27 April 2010: Crusaders visit

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After hosting Byron V.O. from St. Louis and running Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” fantasy role-playing sessions the previous weekend, Janice and I hosted Damon F.P. and Steve M. on 24 and 25 April 2010. I’ve been friends with the guys since studying at Archbishop Stepinac High School in New York’s Westchester County back in the early 1980s. While onetime college roommate Frank P.D. was also in New England with his family, we weren’t able to meet him this time.

That Saturday, Janice cooked a tasty barbecue (Sloppy Joe) lunch, then drove Damon, Steve, and me up to Salem, Massachusetts. We had considered going into downtown Boston, but I’m glad we went somewhere different for sightseeing. Janice and I have gone to Salem for the festivities around Halloween, but this was Damon and Steve’s first time. We visited the Salem Witch Museum and the Witch Trial Memorial, strolled through the historic seaport, and explored various shops.

We stopped in at an Army/Navy surplus store, Harrison’s Comics, and a newsstand with more comics and gaming supplies. We reminisced about school, talked about work and family, compared classic rock notes, and had a good dinner at O’Neill’s, an Irish pub. (A few days earlier, I had gone with co-workers to New Mother India on Waltham’s Moody Street.) That evening, Janice and I introduced Steve to Wii Sports Resort while Damon dozed. Janice and Steve did better at the golf and bowling than I did.

On Sunday, we had a pancake and sausage brunch after Janice served her weekly volunteering stint in Dedham, Mass. Steve and Damon then returned to Connecticut and New York, and Janice and I ran some errands at Legacy Place and continued booking our upcoming travel. Our busy weekends will soon continue with Free Comic Book Day and Janice heading to Dallas for a conference!

21 April 2010: Byron’s visit — food, games, and fun

Friends, I hope that you had a good weekend. Byron V.O., a former member of the Boston-area social/role-playing groups, visited from St. Louis this past weekend. He arrived on Friday, 16 April 2010, and Thomas K.Y. met us for a late dinner at Bertucci’s in Needham, Massachusetts.

Our conversations throughout the weekend focused on work and travel, family and
relationships, history and politics, and of course, genre entertainment and gaming. The next day, Byron and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the “Secrets of Tomb 10A” exhibit of ancient Egyptian artifacts, which Janice and I had first seen a month ago. We grabbed lunch at Qdoba before catching a commuter rail train back in time for a Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” teleconferencing session.

Beruk A. and Thomas joined us for burgers at Wild Willy’s, and Dexter V.H. in Brooklyn and Robert A.S. in North Carolina called in at various points in the evening. Their Player Characters reunited in the city of Hesolin in my “Vanished Lands” fantasy campaign setting. The heroes compared notes after their mission to the distant empire of Khemet (New Kingdom Egypt) and began considering strategy for the ongoing war against the dreaded ghost fleet.

We also talked about starting a new adventuring party that would have ties to previous teams, such as the “Dragonslayers” and “Holy Steel.” Fellow Game Master Brian W. stopped by to chat with Byron, a former cohort in the “Seekers of Lore” and “Broken Chains.” The face-to-face group has been playing one-shots and miniseries in a variety of genres and rules systems since we wrapped up a Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition game, and I’m preparing to run my “Vortex” space opera, but our schedule will be disrupted in the coming months because of travel.

After a few hours’ sleep, Byron and I drove out to the Minado sushi buffet in Natick, Mass., for brunch with Thomas and Paul J. While we were disappointed that half of our gang didn’t show up, we had a good meal. Thomas went to screen superhero satire Kick–Ass, while Byron and I saw the remake of Clash of the Titans at the AMC Framingham multiplex.

The sword-and-sandals fantasy movie was fairly entertaining, if not particularly
faithful to Greek mythology or even its predecessor. The computer-generated
monsters paid homage to Ray Harryhausen‘s stop-motion masterpieces, and the
humor and action were well-balanced. I’d give Clash of the Titans, which was rated PG-13 for violence, three stars, a solid B, or a 7 out of 10.

Paul and Thomas came for Janice’s soup and homemade rolls at dinner, and we resumed our “Holy Steel” logistics discussion on Sunday night. Dexter wasn’t able
to log in, but Beruk did. I was disappointed that more of the local group didn’t attend, but it worked out fine. The next day, I drove Byron to Logan Airport after lunch at Acapulco’s Mexican restaurant. Speaking of food (again), I enjoyed lunch today with some co-workers at Bison County on Waltham’s Moody Street.

Coming soon: Catching up on SFTV and the crowded calendar!

6 April 2010: Warmer weekends

College chums David I.S. and Dexter V.H. didn’t visit the Boston area two weeks ago as each had hoped to at one point. In addition, I didn’t have time to run Shard for Sara F. & Josh C.’s group near Rhode Island, and although I didn’t get to the Pax East gaming convention or I-Con genre entertainment show, I’ve been busy enough lately.

At work, I’ve been juggling the usual editing with my first virtual trade show, testing a new invoicing and calendaring system, and looking ahead to conferences. I was lucky that the heavy rains didn’t affect my commute too much.

On Saturday, 26 March 2010, Janice and I drove to Hartford, Connecticut, for the Sugarloaf Craft Festival. As usual, we bought more food than art, and we had a hearty
lunch at a Cracker Barrel. I also browsed through the comic books and role-playing games at That’s Entertainment and Borders Books in Worcester, Massachusetts.

On Thursday, April 1, we went to the Route 128 station to pick up Amtrak tickets, but all the trains between Boston and New York had been canceled because of flooding in
Rhode Island. Interstate 95 was also obstructed. We got back in my car, turned around, and drove down to Virginia to see my family, fighting both Boston and
Washington, D.C.’s rush-hour traffic and getting rear-ended at a stoplight in New Jersey on the way. Still, we made decent time.

Janice and I stayed with my brother Peter, who recently acquired a Nintendo Wii. Although his wife Kelly had to work the next day, we enjoyed the sunny weather with nieces Ava and Lili. We browsed the shops and ate lunch at Madigan’s Waterfront in the historic town of Occoquan. On Saturday, we went to the Reston Zoo, which Janice and I had never been to before, even when we lived in the area a decade ago. We had lunch at Uno’s in Reston Town Center.

That night, Janice and I went to Corbin A.Y.’s cookout and informal reunion of alumni from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Corb and his wife Andria (whose birthday was Sunday) were gracious hosts as always, and their daughter Maia was calm and cute. I enjoyed catching up with Ben P.S., Steve A.L. and his son Nathaniel, John Z.G., Dana B., and Steve M.R., even though several spouses and children were unable to attend. We chatted about work, politics, relationships, genre entertainment, and of course, gaming.

My parents joined us for mass on Easter Sunday (Janice went to a nearby Lutheran church rather than the crowded Catholic service). Kelly’s mother Maureen arrived in
time for the Easter egg hunt and Peter’s grilled steaks. We played with our nieces and fought with Nerf N-Force Marauder swords before reluctantly heading home.

Unfortunately, traffic was even worse at the end of the holiday weekend than it had been driving south, taking us nearly eight hours to traverse a distance normally
covered in five. Most of the volume was in Maryland and southern New Jersey. We
stopped overnight at the recently remodeled Courtyard by Marriott in Tarrytown,
New York. The remainder of Janice’s and my trip went smoothly, and we stopped
for lunch at the Olive Garden in Natick, Mass., before dealing with errands at
home. I’m still catching up on work and e-mail, but I plan to blog more soon.

8 March 2010: Art and food

Friends, I hope that you had a good weekend. Janice and I enjoyed the early spring warm spell by taking the commuter rail into Boston on Saturday, 6 March 2010. We went to the Museum of Fine Arts, specifically for the exhibits on the tomb of the Djehutynakhts, a prominent ancient Egyptian family, and Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris.

That evening, I joined Thomas K.Y. and some of his friends for some anime and dinner at Khushboo Indian Restaurant. The food was good, but service was slow. Speaking of cuisine, on Sunday, Janice and I attended a cooking class/demonstration at Chiara Bistro in Dedham/Westwood, Massachusetts. The menu, which included leek and “sunchoke” soup, Coq au Vin, crème caramel, and coconut macaroons, was expertly prepared and introduced by Chef Steve LaCount, also the proprietor.

Janice and I had a humbler but still good early dinner at Wild Willy’s Burgers back in Needham. I missed most of the latest Academy Awards, but since I hadn’t seen many of the films nominated for Oscars, I would have been watching more for the celebrities than
their works.

Between a slightly longer commute to my employer’s modern new offices in Newton, some late-night karaoke from our next-door neighbors, and the Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” teleconferencing team and other role-playing games (I may be running the D20 “Gaslight Grimoire” steampunk/fantasy for the face-to-face group soon), I’ve fallen behind again in sleep, reading, and writing, but I’ll try to post more later this week.

3 January 2010: Holiday report

Friends, I hope that all your holidays were happy! Janice and I enjoyed relatively quiet workweeks at the end of December 2009, and we drove to Upstate New York on Christmas Eve. We feasted on lasagna at her parents’ home and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites across from the Great Escape amusement park.

The next morning, we exchanged gifts with Janice’s parents and her middle sister Shelly’s family. Among other things, I got some DVDs, a Jedi costume, and books. Thanks to Amazon.com, I exchanged most presents online and through the mail with my own family in Virginia. Janice and I then headed down to the house of her youngest sister, Melinda, for a Christmas dinner of ham.

I gave comic books and Lego sets to my nephews David and Joshua, and we played pool and Wii video games with grandpa Marvin and brothers in law Melvin and Gary. My nieces Laura and Amanda played Dance, Dance Revolution, while Becky texted her boyfriend Tristan. I also caught up on videos, including the mildly amusing G-Force
and Night at the Smithsonian.

The day after Christmas, the children went sledding, and we enjoyed a sloppy Joe (what Janice’s family calls “barbecue”) lunch before returning to Massachusetts. On New Year’s Eve, Janice and I got vaccinated for the H1N1 flu virus and screened Sherlock Holmes at the new Showcase Cinemas at Legacy Place in Dedham, Mass. I liked the steampunky film, which I’ll try to review in more detail in the coming week or so.

We also had lunch at Qdoba and picked up my subscription at New England Comics in Norwood, despite the snow. That night, we went to local New Year’s Eve celebrations, including a Celtic music concert, some square dancing, an ice sculpture, the Needham Concert Society, and the Homegrown Coffee House. It was also interesting to visit various churches, which served as venues for the civic events. We had dinner at The Rice Barn, a good Asian restaurant.

On Saturday, 2 January 2010, former co-worker and fellow genre fan Ken G. and his girlfriend Kahmmie came over to play more Wii games. Thanks to Ken, I finally got my Wii hooked up to the Internet, and we ate nachos and macaroni and cheese. We had considered going to Avatar, but snow and mixed reviews led us to postpone seeing James Cameron’s latest blockbuster. We did watch an episode of the geek comedy The
Big Bang Theory.

I liked the finale of Doctor Who: the End of Time, which I’ll also try to review in the coming weeks, along with other genre entertainment. The D&D4e “Vanished Lands:
the Faith-Based Initiative” fantasy campaign has finally wound down, amid some
contention among the role-players and clearing the way for one-shots and
miniseries.

Since my circles of acquaintances suffered through layoffs, divorces, and other stresses over the past year, let us hope that 2010 is better for everyone!