10 September 2001
Friday night, Matt and I were online. Matt was Halling with Colleen, while I chatted aimlessly with people. A role-reversal for us, I know.
Around twelve-thirty or so, my eyelids began to droop, and I went to bed. Matt, sweetheart that he is, came upstairs to tuck me in and kiss me good night. "Get some rest," he said.
I nodded. "I'll let you get back to your 'girlfriend' now," I said, teasing him.
At one point, I reached out, half-asleep, and encountered nothing. Blearily, I opened an eye and checked the clock: 3:37. The light was still on downstairs, and Matt had not yet come to bed. (He came up shortly thereafter.)
The next morning, when Matt posted the transcript, I boggled: While I was teasing Matt about having a girlfriend, Jaret and Lini had been kissing. (This despite Lini's recent engagement to another character!)
Saturday, we met K.T. and Kevin at the mall and we ran a few errands, then went back to the Hicks household for dinner. K.T. made her now-famous miniature meat pies, which turned out to be even better in individual servings than it had been as one large pie.
We talked about gaming, rolled up stats for a set of new characters, and played with the new kitten. Eventually, we went home and (of course) got online.
Matt and Colleen got back into character, while I lounged around chatting with Karen and K.T. about their characters' upcoming (tonight, even!) wedding. (Don't look at me like that. One of K.T.'s characters is a guy. Heck, one of my characters is a guy, but he's not getting married.)
Around two in the morning, I couldn't stay awake any longer, and crawled up to bed.
Matt finally joined me sometime around four.
He's not allowed to mock me for my late Hall sessions any more.
Sunday, we met Colleen, Carl, and Richard at the movies to catch a matinee of The Musketeer. I was, I confess, pleasantly surprised.
After one viewing of the previews for this movie, I'd decided it was going to be awful. Who wants kung-fu style martial arts in the middle of a swash-and-buckle movie? But Karen had enjoyed it, and convinced Matt to see it. I was along for the ride.
It helped that I went in expecting it to be awful. That way, everything that wasn't awful was a bonus. Only three of the swordfights were so jarring that I lost my suspension of disbelief, and there were other things that made up for it. I was especially impressed with the two primary female characters, who were strong without losing any of their femininity.
Matt says he wants to watch it again without me. Just like in The Matrix, he dropped his suspension of disbelief not because of the absurdity of the scene, but because I was laughing at the absurdity of the scene. (I don't care how often he chastises me for that: I can not believe that the spaghetti-western feel at the beginning of the subway scene in Matrix wasn't meant to be funny.)
The movie had its good points and its bad points. It's not going to make it onto the list of my favorite movies of all time, not by any stretch. But neither do I feel that the price of my ticket was wasted.
After the movie we went to Ruby Tuesday's for our only actual meal of the day (unless you count concession stand food, which I don't) and then home... and online, of course
This time, it was Karen and I who started Halling, and K.T. joined us shorty after we started. Matt and I were doing laundry, so I didn't expect it to be a problem if things ran a little late. However, when I got up to get the last load of laundry at 1:00, Karen had just opened up a new barrel of worms.
When I got back, I begged them to find a way to wrap up - or at least a way for my character to exit gracefully! (There are significant dangers involved in gaming with people who don't have to be up as early as one's self.)
Finally, after a panicked moment when I thought they were going to hash out the details of the flower girl's dress before wrapping up the session, I found a reasonable out, and took it in a hurry.
I expect tonight's session - the wedding - to run at least as late. We pushed the starting time up to seven, to give us an extra hour, but I figure it will take a good two hours just to finish the ceremony, because every character will feel obliged to describe their costume in detail. (Even in an imaginary universe, we like showing off occasionally.)
Not that I don't plan to do the same. I just need to make sure to have some extra caffeine on hand when we get rolling.
It should be an interesting session. There are eleven people in the wedding party: Bride and groom, three pairs of attendants, a flower girl, the "uncle" who's giving the bride away, and the priestess. Those eleven characters will be played by five actual players. Me, personally? I'm handling four of them: one bridesmaid, one groomsman, the "uncle", and the priestess.
(I'm tied with K.T., who's handling the groom, the maid of honor, the third bridesmaid, and the flower girl. But I think I edge her out on points, because it's the priestess who will be doing most of the talking.)
I'll also be playing "my" groomsman's fiancée and the priestess' lover, but those two can - mercifully - be brought in and (metaphorically speaking) propped in a corner.
The reception afterwards will be even more hectic, because all the other characters will become active. Whee.... Maybe I should lay in a stock of not just extra caffeine, but some chocolate for that quick sugar rush.
I'm not really complaining, though. It should be fun.
Word of the Day:
peruse - 1 a: to examine or consider with attention and in detail; b: to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner; 2: read, especially to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner
Song of the Day:
Shoehorn With Teeth (They Might Be Giants)
Currently Reading:
- nothing
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Hall stuff
- garden