Noise in the Shape of Writing

I'm sure you are wondering what the host did at his own con. Did he learn new games? Was he responsible for half the empty bottles in the recycling bin? Did he have to break out the steamcleaner? Well, here's a partial list of what I did

* Played umpteen games of table tennis with Bino -- all of them between the hours of 4am and 5am. I never got to do the tournament I had hoped, but I am pretty sure I ended up playing all the best players at some point (Prime, Bino, Mike N).

* Ran my anual tentacle porn RPG session. I always feel aprehensive.. like maybe this time someone will say I have gone too far. I pushed the line pretty hard this time by having the players be toddlers and learn their first dirty words, but I am happy cause it passed my one test: I wanted it to be raunchy enough that we could still enjoy ourselves with double entendres even if Tanya were to walk into the room... which she did.

* Played WEREWOLF, making sure to talk a lot so that when I was the werewolf finally no one would notice I was all of a sudden more talkative. Didn't matter... I never drew a red card.

* Got to frolic afterhours at Disneyland. Yes, odd though it seems, this has been a longtime fantasy of mine. And Mike made it come true. We hit the Matterhorn, Haunted Mansion, the railroad, and Star Tours. Maybe next time we'll ransack Space Mountain cause I hope there's a sequel!

* Learned new games! Chrononauts is less intimidating than I had thought (and like Steve said, I dind't have to learn an iota of American History!). Xanth the Boardgame is basically Snit's Revenge crossed with Talisman, but has some neat facets like double ended cards. Hex Hex is a lotta fun, though once the cards have been run through a few times, the game seems repetetive (need to buy a double size deck). D&D minis look cool, but I didn't get to play an actual game. SNL Trivia is basically an experiment in hitting your head saying "oh! oh! that was a freakin funny sketch, but I cannot remember for the life of me who the guest star was or what color shirt he was wearing during the monologue". I played Songburst before, but apparently with the WRONG RULES (it's a lot more fun now). ALso, learned quite a few games from Morgan's outdoor challenges... I say once again, those are hella fun.

* Wish I had had enough energy left to play in BurgerMeister. I know I would have gotten a kick out of being on that fry line. I've been a Line Sup before and it's crazy but fun.

* Cleaned my house finally! Of course, that's something I did *before* the con, but it's something I would certianly not have done if *not* for the con. And oh, it feels nice to have a clean house.

* Didn't hold a Relax-o-Rama, but got to enjoy some of the elements of one anyway. Basically, I like sitting with people in the middle of a con and just chatting. Talked with my friend's new wife and found out she totally agrees with me about how cool it is seeing other sides of people when they game. And really, that's why I hold MaxiCon. I like seeing how people deal with things like close quarters, communal arrangements, joint food stores, clean-up, mornings!!!, crash spaces, gluts of humanity, winning, losing, cooking, and especially... meeting new people. I sort of held my own Relax-o-Rama this year by playing in fewer games and experienceing more of the con.

* Brought my disparate groups of friends together over gaming. Improv writers, actors, coworkers from Princess, family and high school friends. If you didn't recognize someone and they looked pretty tipsy, they were from my Hollywood crew. Otherwise they were family. Unless they had little rugrats in which case they were high school friends all grown up.

* Got to lift 16 people through a giant cube. Got to flip them upside down while they held a glass of water. Got to tap them on their heads to make them pick up cards. Got to throw squish balls at them. Got to run at them full speed trusting that they would get out of the way at the last moment. Got to strut my stuff and wave my ass a them in cursive. And then rescue a giant rubber chicken to save Earth.

* Witnessed the final demise of my third set of DDR pads. Time to go metallic!

* Actually drank liquids other than beer at a party. And I think my stomach is much happier for it. I think it's what allowed me to get by on less than 6 hours of sleep for the weekend.

* Ended the weekend with a game of FALLING. As is my wont. I am complete.