Ad Infinitum

Conference

For the first time, I am using a laptop on my lap, the veritable Asus 1000HE having connected to this conference’s wireless connection after a fitful journey to my present situation. This is perhaps the third laptop I’ve ever owned, but the footprint is such that I can balance it well and still type without issue. For those of you who didn’t already know, I have an annual conference in March that Garrett and I get dragged into for helping with all manner of things; most of the time, it’s heavy lifting and being blamed. If there’s one thing I really can’t stand about this job is the environment for blame that we have here… I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but people are all about pointing fingers with little room for actually getting problems solved.

My schedule is more or less punctuated at the beginning and end of each day with mandatory events… Showing up and making sure things are working in the morning, and then attending dinner functions at night. The in between, which is when this entry is being made, consists of several hours wherein Garrett and I stare boredly at each other or one of our cellphones while the seconds pass all too slowly. This year, I took great strides to solve the issue of boredom that usually plagues us this time of the year; technology has allowed me use of an internet connection, piggy-backed off of a mobile broadband card in another laptop which is being used to check work e-mail by coworkers. So while Garrett has his iPhone and I have my information superhighway, we continue to wait until the next checkpoint: lunch.

Release Dates

One year ago, Smash Brothers was released and it couldn’t have been at a worse time. Having built itself up for half a year, Garrett was angry that he’d be missing those first, fertile hours of the game where he and Austin compete in an almost savage, cro-magnon way; taking a break to head home just to try it for a few hours, I assured Garrett that, now, having tried the ultimate game, he could die happy. It didn’t take long after our return that they mastered the thing, playing it until it literally no longer worked in the Wii. It’s hard to imagine that it’s been an entire year, and yet it also seems like it was much longer… I guess some events seem disproportionately longer while others so very, very recent.

This year, it is my turn to slaver over a release date coinciding with our yearly duty: the Player’s Handbook 2 launches tomorrow, and I’ve spent 90% of my internet time sitting in the appropriate channels, waiting for its inevitable leak. Because this is the Ontario conference center, the namesake mall isn’t too far off, and with it a Barnes and Noble. I’ve considered calling them, wondering if they’d break street date or hold an impromptu midnight launch party. At this point, it may seem as if I really crave this book, but I think the lack of anything better to do in the hotel room compounds the desire somewhat. From a DM’s standpoint, I don’t get as much out of the book as my players do. I’ll be interested to see what offerings it has for wide-eyed feat choosers, though I don’t see any of my people really pushing to play one of the new classes.

D&D

Since our last foray into the stony halls of Thunderspire, when Marissa happened to be in town before her spring break, I’ve hosted another session with the primary group, which is rapidly becoming the only group; Cory’s made his way back into the fold, bringing the amount of side stories down to two. We spent a lot of time trying to get Marissa dialed in via Skype, a process that took longer than I hoped but ultimately laid the groundwork for future games. Even if she isn’t the most tactical or the most forward in roleplaying, everyone enjoys her being around and any inconvenience in bridging the gap between states, a miracle of modern man, is gladly tolerated.

I’d like to think that putting more effort into preparing for my D&D sessions pays off, but more often I find that it only causes problems. Handouts and coordinated excel spreadsheets never fail to please, but being rigid in storyline has yet to pay off. I expected Cody to come home for a period of two weeks,  and even had a rough draft for his participation in D&D for that brief time. Plans were dashed on news that he wouldn’t return until October, but there’s always a silver-lining: we began playing last week out of a panicked need to provide him with news of our adventures, as his exit also marked the beginning of a two month hiatus. It’s nice to be playing again, and I wish I could say that WoW in between worked towards recharging my DM batteries, but now I need to consolidate my frayed plotlines and bring everyone under the same roof. This would probably be easier if the assassins weren’t universally loathed by their brothers in arms.

Conclusion

My Dad had a lot of pride in his car. At our old business building, he’d get his caddy detailed every week by the local car guy, who would drive his mobile washing station into our parking lot on Fridays and get twenty bucks or so servicing the tenets. In my time, I would sometimes have him work on my car as well, and I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t had my car cleaned since we moved all those months ago; the carwash guy was a relic of the past now, our parking lot having no such nicety beyond the furlough that kept lawyers away at the end of every other week. For conference, I decided to get’r done, and in packing up for the hotel I discovered what the hell my cargo nets were really intended for. Now whether it’s 10:30 and I am still bored as piss, or I want to impress upon you how pleased I am with my car, I’m still not sure on the purpose of relating this to you. Maybe you’re just as bored, eager to read anything I can. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic, wearing a shirt with my dad’s name on it, attending a conference he helped build.