Friends, I'm sorry for the delayed blog posts. I've been busy with work during the past few weeks. Halloween was relatively quiet for us this year, with only about 20 trick-or-treaters coming to our door. In the past several years, out-of-town friends such as Dexter V.H. or Byron V.O. have visited around the holiday, and I've hosted costumed gaming sessions. Fortunately, the local role-players and co-workers have been able to eat most of Janice's and my leftover candy.
That weekend, Janice and I swung by our usual bookshops and restaurants in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The weekend after that, we drove to Pennsylvania to visit Janice's extended family. On the way, we stopped at Damon F.P.'s home in New York and took my high-school chum to lunch at the Carmel Diner.
After checking into the Howard Johnson in Allentown, we met Janice's parents Marvin & Linda and sister Melinda and her husband Gary, and animal-lover niece Amanda and fellow superhero fan nephew Joshua. The next day, we went to the Zern's flea market and ate Philly cheesesteak sandwiches at Talarico's before spending a pleasant afternoon with "Mammy," Janice's paternal grandmother Thelma M. More family members joined us for dinner.
As many people have noted, the current economic crisis is hurting everyone, and another round of layoffs has us hunkered down at my office. After a cold snap, Janice and I had to rake numerous bags' worth of fallen leaves and bring them to Needham's dump. Although I didn't get to screen Quantum of Solace, I still hope to eventually see the 22nd James Bond movie.
In the coming weeks, we'll be going to Upstate New York for Thanksgiving with members of Janice's immediate family and hosting some of them around her birthday and the Bay Colony Dog Show. Janice is mostly done with Christmas shopping for her folks, but I have yet to get started.
The regular D&D4e "Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based Initiative," D&D3.5 "Holy Steel," and City of Heroes games, as well as struggling television shows such as Heroes and Pushing Daisies, have also kept me occupied. This weekend, I'll be attending two genre entertainment conventions: the New England Fan Experience in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Super MegaFest in Framingham, Mass.! I'll also be dining at Ken G.'s pre-Thanksgiving gathering. Have a good weekend!
To come: Convention reports, movie trailer reviews, animation updates, and more!
Gene's Worlds 
