Did you think I was dead?

Hey, look at that. I *didn't* forget how to put up a post in my blog. It's been so long I figured I'd have lost the knowledge. I'm quite surprised myself that I would be on a 2 month hiatus from posting. I guess I don't really have much of an excuse, either, though most of my November was spent on schoolwork. Most of my December has been spent on sloth. Ever since I handed in my takehome exam for algebra, I've just been doing as little as possible.

Hm, now which events from the last two months should I discuss? I went on my trip to Waterloo a few weeks ago, and that was fun. I stayed with Andrew the first few days, and Hugh for the last leg of the trip. We had a four hour game of Cities and Knights of Catan that was rife with inaccurate rules since Andrew had never read the rules in any great detail.

I had that party that I mentioned in the last post, and it went off without a hitch. Lots of people showed up, everyone had a great time, and it didn't take much effort to clean up the next day. I'll be sure to do it again sometime next term.

Hey, here's some big news: I've started drinking! Not as a hobby, or anything, but I don't refuse to drink anymore. I realized a while ago that I didn't really have a good reason to *not* drink, but I felt like I needed an occasion to start. I didn't want my first drink to be anticlimactic. I decided that Phil being in town was a good enough reason to celebrate. Since then, though, I've decided I don't really like the taste of alcohol, and the last few times I've had drinks it's made me pretty queasy, so at least now I have an excuse if someone offers me a libation. Plus on top of that, I'm still a cheapskate, so I'm not willing to buy my own booze often. At the moment, Adam keeps making new and disgusting drinks with what I have sitting in my bar. The only thing that I've enjoyed so far is the Amaretto Sour.

Phil is back in town again (yes, he's visited *twice* since the last time I made a post), and he and Adam are more or less living out of my house. We've been playing lots of Power Grid and Nexus Ops, some Guitar Hero, and we started playing X-Men Legends (very fun multiplayer game). I've been staying up til 5 or 6 the last few nights; I haven't seen much sunlight lately. At least I'll be well seasoned for New Year's Eve.

I didn't get anything extremely noteworthy for Christmas besides a Bohnanza expansion (from Sheena and Dan), and Super Paper Mario and Metroid Prime 3 for Wii. I was sort of hoping to get Super Mario Galaxy, but it'll still be waiting for me once I play the two games I got.

I attended a games afternoon the other day at the game store with Doug, a guy I met via BGG. I invited all of my friends to come, but none came. I'm willing to bet that Sheena and Dan would have, if they were in town. Regardless, I had fun. We played Incan Gold, Citadels, Bang (twice), and Munchkin. I'm not really a huge fan of any of those games, but I wasn't about to bitch and whine about it since it wasn't really my event. I sent an email inviting all of them to come to my games nights. I'm anticipating a pretty nice turnout to my games nights, but of course I've said that in the past only to have the usual 5 or 6 show up. If all goes well, Doug and his friends will come, and up to 6 people from my classes will start coming out as well. Hopefully Dan's two brothers will start coming as well. If I could get enough for two tables on a regular basis, that would probably be ideal.

Well, that's as much as I'm willing to write about at the moment, so I'll end it around here. I make no promises about when another post will show up, but hopefully I can get back into the habit of making a public journal of events in my life that next to no one cares about.

Listening to... Foo Fighters - Come Back
Link of the moment... Please do yourself a favour and watch all of these game reviews. HILARIOUS!

The one about games nights

Well, I had my second games night last night, so I guess I'll give an update on how they're going.

Last week, I got most of the regulars, plus a few people I haven't seen in a long time. No one was on time; I was hanging out with Stephanie until 8PM when more people finally showed up (I invited them all for 7PM). Once there was a sizable number of people here, I started off with Apples to Apples since it was so easy to explain, and is good for semi-large groups. It went over well as usual, but it's easy to get bored of it if you play it too much, and most of the people there had played it a few days prior.

After that, I tried to live my dream of playing Werewolf. There were 8 of us, so that meants 7 playing with me moderating. The first game was a bit haphazard since the only way to really learn the game is to play it. Grant showed uppartway through the first game, so the next game had 8 players. Chanel graciously took over moderating so I could play. Both games were really short, and as a result I'm going to say that Werewolf is no good until you get at least 10 people. 9 players means that there will be at least three votes before the werewolves can win. With only two votes, the werewolves have it way too easy. Luckily, I was able to convince most of the people there to try again when we have more people rather than giving up on the game after a bad introduction.

When we were down to seven people after that game, we broke out Bohnanza. I didn't read the rules very carefully and we didn't play correctly (you are supposed to change some stuff when 6 or 7 people play), but everyone enjoyed it quite a bit. I like it too, but I always get so impatient in trading games. This game ended at nearly 11, so everyone left after that.

Last night, I had pretty much the same crew, except that Veebs and Jason were able to make it. As I was waiting for people to trickle in, I played a game of Crib with Grant (he won), and then High Society with four and then five people. All of my friends in Waterloo hated this game upon first playing it, but it went over really well. It can be a pretty intense game at times, and I had a really good time playing it. Perhaps it helped that I explained the rules well this time, though it could just be that I was playing with the right people.

Once the second game finished, there were nine of us and I recommended we split up into different tables. I agreed to play Settlers of Catan with Grant, Veebs, and J, while everyone else said they wanted to play Bang and Bohnanza. So I first gave them a crash course in Bang. I think that the game is a bit dry when you play with all the slightly more confusing cards stripped out, but it's hard to play if you have to go to a reference sheet every five minutes. Everyone at that table had already played Bohnanza the week before, so I didn't need to worry about teaching them that. I left them to their devices, and I went to teach Catan to the others.

After a Catan tutorial, we were on our way. Everyone made quite a bit of use out of ports the entire game. It was overall a pretty friendly game. No one was really left behind, since at the end of the game, everyone was near 7 or 8 points. I've heard it's a good rule of thumb to not win any game that you're trying to teach anyone, but the dice really seemed to be coming up my way and I won (it was also getting sort of late, so I didn't want to try to wait around for someone else to win). It also went over well with everyone who played it (how could you not like Catan?), so I'm sure it'll see some playtime in the future.

Next week I'd like to get Ticket to Ride on the table, and I'm sure that at least a few games will get requested. I'm trying to avoid playing the same games week after week so that they don't get stale, so I hope I can get some new games out next week. I'm also hoping to get a bit of a better turnout. I'd still like to get a 10 or 12 player game of werewolf going, and I'd like to play in a seven player game of Bang myself so I can play with all the cards in the deck.

Wednesday is the worst day of the week cause it's as far away from games night as you can get.

Listening to... Hopesfall - April Left With Silence
Link of the moment... Funny dubbed scene from LotR

Memoir '44 is out of stock? GAH!

I must be the target of a conspiracy...everytime I go to J&J with one game in mind, they don't have it in stock! It happened first with Thurn and Taxis (which I eventually got a hold of (but have yet to play)), and now it's happened again with Memoir '44! They say they're getting a Days of Wonder shipment in this week, but they're not sure if Memoir '44 will be in it. I hope so, because I'd really like to pick it up before I leave Waterloo. It seems like the kind of game that Adam would be interested in, and I don't have any wargames in my collection (besides Risk 2210, blech). I also had hoped to pick up Kill Doctor Lucky and Bohnanza, but they only had the latter in stock (I guess one out of three aint bad?).

I've also been thinking about picking up a mixed lot of Magic cards on eBay, or a starter set. No matter how many games I get, I'll never have enough to satiate my thirst. I certainly have no hopes of being one of *those* Magic players. You know, the ones that buy booster pack after booster pack, hoping to score one of those rares that they need to have an unbeatable deck. No, I just want something I can divy up between some chums and play when I need my nerd itch scratched. I mean, MTG has been around as long as it has, so the gameplay must have some sort of redeeming qualities.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to include more links in my posts. I don't suppose any of you have said "jeez, I wish Kevin would direct me to a page with more information about his favourite board games", but you never know. If I can infect one of you with my gaming disease, I'll consider it a success.

While I'm (still) on the subject of games, let me tell you a little story. When I last played Catan with Jordan and Katie, they mentioned that they were walking through the V1 cafe one day, when someone asked if they wanted to play some guy's game. They told me that he had gotten it published. This had reminded me of some guy who was showing off his game at a WATSFIC games day, saying he was trying to get it published. Long story short, they were one and the same. Having played the game, I didn't think it was that great. Someone (Andrew?) said I shouldn't trash talk him, since he got his game published, something I probably couldn't do. Since then, I've been trying to get inpiration to design a game of my own, and I think I've finally got something workable. I'm working out the kinks, but so far I'm thinking of an old west theme, with "simultaneous action selection" (ala Diplomacy). We'll see if I can make something workable out of it.

I've also been looking into Arkham Horror, but I'm not sure how much use I would get out of a 3 hour long, heavy weight game that requires a few playthroughs to get used to. Ok. I'm done talking about games for a while. Thanks for letting me indulge.

Listening to... The Offspring - Something to Believe In
Link of the moment... I have SERIOUSLY got a one-track mind

Done undergrad classes! FOREVER!

Well, classes are over. Like, for good. That is, undergrad classes. I suppose I'll still be taking courses at Lakehead for a grad degree, but those don't count. Now I've just got to burn through three exams, and I'll have a Bachelor's degree under my belt!

So far, I've just been relaxing since classes have finished. I've been sitting my poor ass on the couch, playing a lot of video games (ah, the good life). I started up Metroid Prime the other day. I usually frown on sci-fi themed games, but this game is really good. I still have issues with aiming through the shoulder buttons, but I can certainly see why the game is as highly rated as it is. I think the best thing about this game is that there is no stupid mascot character that rides on your shoulder constantly telling you what to do (looking at you, Legend of Zelda). If you ever do get stuck on something, you can scan items in the room for information, and you'll occasionally get intel through your visor about anomolies in the environment so that you always have somewhere to go, and the map makes it really easy to know how to get there.

I seem to be hanging out a lot with Katie and Jordan. They came over on Monday night after a grocery trip. We played some Super Jeopardy (on the NES emulator) and then played 25 words or less with the roommies and Julie. It's a pretty decent game, but I think some house rules are needed, as some of the rules are a bit ambiguous.

Last night, I went out to East Side Mario's with Katie, Jordan, Andrew, and Sean. I had some pretty good bowtie pasta (I would have gotten more, but everyone else was done their meals by the time I got a friggen refill on my iced tea). After that, we played a game of Catan (Jordan and Katie were on a team). It was a pretty good game, aside from some overly long turns. Catan is such a great game, just because trading with other players is such a big part.

I've already got well over a hundred dollars worth of games that I'm considering purchasing. If I buy them before I leave, I save myself some shipping and handling, but I don't want to try to fit any more boxes in my car for the drive home. Even though I don't play games much now, I can justify it since I expect to be playing games regularly with my friends back home (boy, I hope I get a good following back home, or else I'm gonna have a shitload of board games and no one to play them with).

I think I'm gonna make the trip back home around the 24th or 25th. Even though I'll be done on the 18th, I think I should stick around since I won't be seeing a lot of people for quite some time after I leave. It takes about 8 hours to get to Sault Ste. Marie from here, and about another 8 from the Sault to Thunder Bay. Since there aren't any sizable cities between the latter two, I'll probably split the trip up over two days in that way. I guess that means I don't have to get up early for the first day! I've also had the brilliant idea of loading up my Zen with podcasts to listen to on the ride home. Most of my music is kind of stale, so some good talk radio might be the ticket to keep me entertained on the road. I think I'll download a few episodes of the Dice Tower. Does anyone have any other suggestions (Paul, I'm looking at you)?

Listening to... Trapt - Still Frame
Link of the moment... I sort of like this show. Too bad there's no online audio-only supplement for it.

Happy commercialized holiday!

It doesn't feel like Christmas this year. There's no snow on the ground, and we didn't bother putting up a tree this year (we just had a two-foot stand-in on a table). Let's see what booty I got this year:

-New Canon 5.0MP digital camera (I might return it in favour of a smaller model, if I can find one at the same price. Quality is fine and all, but bulky cameras are no fun to carry around)
-Poker's Wild! (A game from the creators of Sequence. Might be fun every now and then)
-shirt and pants (love the pants, the shirt is ok)
-Battlefield 1942 (looking forward to play this via LAN, but not sure if I'll get around to playing it solo for a while)
-Yoshi's Island DS (yay!)
-Lego Star Wars 2 (I happened to burn this from a rental the other day, so I'm going to return it and get Okami for PS2 instead)
-large cash donation for me to buy things for myself (my mom wants me to get a Wii, but considering the lack of great games and my current backlog of games for GC, PS2, PC, and DS, I'll spend it elsewhere and buy a Wii later on in 2007. I'm going to get that video card which is now on sale at Future Shop for Boxing Day.)

I've also added Metroid Prime to my "to play" list. It's the top rated GameCube game, and third highest overall at GameRankings.com. I'm on the last chapter of RE4. For the first three days, I was able to play through a chapter per day, but the fourth chapter took me a long time. I should be done this game in a few days, and then I'll move on to The Warriors. I should be able to finish that in a week and a half, and when I get back to Waterloo I'll probably move on to whatever I'm in the mood for. In the handheld division, I should be done Megaman ZX in less than a week, and then I'll play my new Yoshi's Island DS.

Hugh says that by scheduling video games like this, I take a fair chunk of the fun out of it by destroying the spontaneity. I suppose that's slightly true, but I think that with games taking 20+ hours to beat, and with some games having pretty steep learning curves, it's too difficult to jump back into a game that you've already started and still take as much out of it as you would if it were still fresh on your mind.

So far Adam and I have played 5 (or maybe 6) games of Carcassonne. I think the game works very well with fewer players. There's much more of a "screw over your opponents" element. I played Settlers of Catan with Adam, Grant, and Chanel, and they all seemed to enjoy it. We had to cut it short since Adam had to go somewhere, and while we were playing, Martine and her boyfriend came over. I think we stopped with a three-way tie where Grant, Chanel and I all had 8 points. I'm sure they'd like to play again if the number of people fits. I still want to play with Sheena.

After Adam left, the five of us played Bang!. I started off by stripping a lot of cards out (character cards, more complicated action cards) to leave more of a basic game. After the first game, we added the characters and some more action cards and played again. My one qualm with the game is that it seems to take forever to kill anyone. After playing ten minutes, everyone might still be at full health. I think it would be better to play more rounds that are quicker to play. To remedy this, I think I'll take out some "Missed!" and "Beer" cards (which evade shots and restore health, respectively).

Well it's nearly time for Christmas dinner, so I'm going to go shower and put on my new clothes, then stuff myself with delicious goodness.

Listening to... Rage Against the Machine - Freedom
Link of the moment... Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the new board games I've got my eye on. Lucky you.

I won't let Facebook take me alive!

For a while there, I was checking Facebook daily, but I suppose two days in a row doesn't really count. Turns out there's a UW Euchre club group. I'm now an admin, even though I oh-so-rarely use Facebook. I've just never really been an admin before...

This past weekend wasn't as productive as it should have been. I'm at the point in the physics course where I have to learn stuff I didn't know in High School. Seeing as how the assignment is due Wednesday (tomorrow), and I need to scan the assignment on campus during the day, and I have euchre tonight, it looks like whatever I have finished up until this point is what I'll be submitting, which happens to be three of the six questions. The real killer part is that I won't get the assignment solutions back in time to study the assigned questions in time for the exam (on the 8th). Then I've got to work on Crypto before Thursday so I can ask questions after class to finish the assignment for Tuesday, and Graph Theory is due on Friday as well. Assignments sort of crept up on me; I never saw it coming.

I can't view my blog from the lab here, so you'll have to forgive me if I repeat anything. I found my gloves that I lost a while ago. Turns out they were sitting in this lab the whole time. Over the course of a week, no one stole them or threw them out or anything. Just goes to show how little this lab gets used I guess. Since I bought new ones, and Andrea loves them so much, I gave the old gloves to her She seems to have taken quite a liking to them.

I got some of my grad stuff out of the way, but I guess I still have a bit more to do. I requested my three reference letters. All I really need to do at this point is send in my applications and wait. To do that though, I need a statement of interest, and before I finish that, I want to know if I have a chance of doing the NSERC research program during the summer. To know more about that, I'm waiting for the NSERC person at LU to get off their ass and let me know if any of the math profs have research interests in graph theory.

My parents want me to apply at more places like Manitoba and UWO. I really don't care that much about grad studies though, so I'm only going to apply to LU and UW. If the both accept me, I'll proabably just go to LU for laziness reasons. That is, if there is a prof with graph theory roots who will supervise me. Sure, LU isn't nearly as prestigious, but the way I figure, once I get a real job, I'll never see Thunder Bay again. Might as well get some time in before I do that.

I'm really looking forward to playing Catan with Sheena! She told me she's been wanting to play board games but can't find anyone. Good to know there's someone to do that with at home. Maybe we'll play some poker too. Maybe I should invest in another game or two at J&J...Bang! might be a good addition to my collection. No one here would play it with me, but I could say that about nearly EVERY interest I have.

I'm not entirely looking forward to exams next month, but I guess I never really am. I'll have very little time to study for Physics on the 8th. I'll have to put lots of time into Linguistics on the 13th since I've missed so many classes. Graph Theory on the 15th shouldn't take so much time since I'd say I have a pretty good grasp of the course material. Crypto on the 18th will be gruesome, I'm sure, but if I can get some decent studying done without putting it off too long, I should bo ok. Of course, the fact that I can't use Nathalie as an aid on the final will probably set me back a few points.

My schedule for next term got a little better. I found out about a CO course being offered next term, Network Design. I dumped Coding Theory for it, and now my schedule will be Crypto, Network Flow, and Network Design from 11:30-1:30 on MWF. Of course Euchre will mean I still have to walk to campus four days a week, but I still vastly prefer this schedule for both its relevance to graph theory and compactness.

I think I'm going to have to go get a donut. I'm pretty hungry.

Listening to... Fugazi - Lockdown
Link of the moment... FINALLY got this in the mail!