Power Grid, gaming, and gaming comics

I went to gaming with Jeff on Friday night. I go every so often, taking my laptop and Wacom Artpad as well as other entertainment devices (including books). Even though I usually don't play, I sometimes like just hanging out in the same room because the conversation is almost always entertaining.

Last Friday, however, I actually did some gaming. I played Trans America (a short and fun game with easy rules, identical to Trans Europa
except you're building your railway across the U.S. instead of Europe) with Hrach and Scott, and then Power Grid with Jeff, Reid, John, and Iain. I've been playing board games most of my life, but mostly the casual party type (Monopoly, Hearts, Pictionary, etc.).



Then Jeff introduced me to games like Carcassonne, which involves a strategy that goes beyond just rolling a dice and move your marker around a board to get to the end. These types of games aren't for those with short attention spans or for casual parties.

I enjoy playing both types of games, but I find these more complex games more satisfying in many ways and (as long as I'm awake for them) enjoy the amount of focus they take. Sort of like reading an engrossing 400-page novel compared to reading a magazine, I suppose.



As I've mentioned before, I've tended to avoid playing games with Jeff's group because they usually play so late at night. Now that I've decided to go to the BoardGameGeek convention with Jeff this year, however, I figured I should try to familiarize myself with some of the more popular games. I want to play a bunch of new games at the convention, of course, but I suspect that if I have to learn a complex set of rules over and over throughout each day, it might get wearing.



Above: Scott's hand-painted minis for the first edition of RoboRally. Or at least he did some of them, anyway.

But I digress. I enjoyed playing Power Grid, but I have a LOT to learn. I only survived the game because the guys were coaching me throughout - the rules are more complex than games I usually play, and we didn't START playing the game until 10 pm, which is around the time I usually start thinking about crashing(!).



By the end of the game, I was barely conscious. :-) The game requires more and more math and complex strategies the closer you get to the endgame, but fortunately my game-mates were helping me out a ton. Here's proof that I managed to stay awake until 1:45 am, when the game ended:



Having played the game once, I think I have a (vaguely) better idea of overall play though I think I'll need a lot more experience before I fully grasp the subtleties of strategy. I also need more sleep.

Anyway, I've signed up for a BoardGameGeek account and have already run into jwordsmith as well as others from writing and sf communities. No filkers yet, though. If you're a member (or if you join), please let me know so I can add you to my GeekBuddy list. I'll be posting occasional gaming-related comics in my BGG gallery.

The gamers at BGG have been very welcoming/helpful, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of them in person this November.

Babylon Five Virgin Update

For those interested, I've updated Babylon Five Virgin, my blog about watching B5 for the first time. Please note there are MANY SPOILERS, so only click over if you've already watched the series.

Gaming comics

Here are a few comics I've posted to BGG (thanks to Jeff for his help with the Power Grid comic):





And you'll probably only get the next one if you've played Power Grid:





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Happy Family Day!

Happy Family Day, everyone! Personally, I think it's kind of sad that it's taken for granted that most people don't spend enough time with their family that we need to have a provincial holiday to make sure it happens.

Thanks for all the Strumstick case advice, everyone. I'm going to investigate plastic tubing. The main challenge would be the 5" wide part of the Strumstick, which means the entire tube would need to be at least that wide, and at least 30" long. Not sure if I could fit that into some of the Air Canada overhead bins of smaller planes (the size AC flights from Toronto to Atlanta and Columbus seem to get tinier each time) but perhaps I could find tubing that could padded well enough inside to check it if necessary.

Speaking of checking, do check out the page about my line of cards on the Blush Publishing Web site. Click on any of the card images to see a close-up of each card. I'm also in their Announcements page. If you're interested in distributing these cards or have suggestions for Mark and Allison about how they could get wider distribution, please do let them know!









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Blush cards!

Above: One of my letterpress card designs launched by Blush Publishing at the Spring Fair in the UK this past weekend, woohoo! The cards come with a deep red envelope that matches the ink in my card signature, and there are currently four designs (more coming).

Blush Publishing consists of Mark Moran and Alison Hopkins, a couple who live in a small North Wales village with their young daughter. They feed each card by hand into their Victoria printing press where the inked image and handset type are pressed into 100% mould made cotton paper. I can't wait to get my samples!

I'll let you know when the cards are available in stores and online. Unfortunately Blush doesn't yet have a North American distributor (if you're interested, please do let them know), but I've written to the Etsy people and they say it's ok for me to sell them in my Etsy store. The cards will be available in the UK, however.

I'm going to compile a list of stores carrying my cards and will post them periodically in Blatherings.



Yes, I know my Etsy shop is still empty. I'll be adding original paintings eventually; please sign up for my Etsy mailing list to be kept up-to-date on when I add new items. In addition to the occasional original painting, I'm also going to be selling prints, cards and buttons with my artwork, as well as some more pottery (created by Luisa, painted by yours truly). However, I'll only be doing this periodically...more like once a week or every two weeks rather than every day.

I've been feeling stretched a bit too thin lately and am in the midst of taking a hard look at how I spend my time. I've opted out of blogTO; as much as I enjoy writing for the site, it just doesn't pay enough to justify the time I spend on the articles. I should be spending that time on my own fiction writing projects instead, and posting interviews/reviews on my own blogs where I'd be earning more money through Google Adsense. I'll still be submitting the occasional article to blogTO, but for the pure fun of it than for pay. They're a great bunch of people, and I love the site.

I'm also going to drastically cut down on the number of low-paying or non-paying illustration projects. I enjoy drawing, and so it's hard to say no when someone asks me to do a cartoon or drawing for free or almost free if the project sounds fun. But these have been gradually accumulating and my writing has suffered, and I'm realizing that I have to better about Just Saying No.

So if you're planning to ask me to draw something for free, please don't be offended if I have to politely decline. :-)

I'm also in the midst of testing out various greeting card services. I do so many cartoons and Blather-illos for fun; I figure it's about time I try to make a bit of money from them. I've tested out Zazzle; the card quality is great, but it's bit pricier than I'd like. I'm currently testing out the cards from Greeting Card Universe and Cafepress. If you know of any other greeting card service I should try out, please let me know! I'll be posting an overall report. Eventually, I'd like to settle on one place where I can set up a card shop. Ideally, it would be a print card shop where I just have to submit my illustrations and not have to worry about the packaging and mailing. I know that means less profit, but the saved time/hassle is of greater value to me...I could spend it writing.

Thank you to those who posted in response to my Secret Club advice survey. Some of your responses made me cry (in a good way).

Anyway, I'll be posting a follow-up in Blatherings. I also haven't forgotten about the music video survey follow-up!

Have a great weekend, everyone. Tom Jeffers and Sue Posteraro are coming over for dinner and music tonight, and I'm so looking forward to a mellow evening with friends. :-)




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Happy birthday, Jeff!

It's Jeff's birthday today, woohoo! Please feel free to post a birthday greeting in my Livejournal comments section; I'll make sure he sees it.

The photo above: I think this cake was in celebration of his one month old birthday. His parents didn't decide on a name for him right away, but they nicknamed him "Spike" (volleyball related, I think) temporarily.

I'm glad they decided not to keep the nickname.

Here are some Jeff pics from the archives; I've also posted some in Jeff's birthday pic Flickr set.



Above: Jeff in a canoe made by our friend Danny Gibson (a wedding gift from my dad-in-law).



Above: After a gaming session at Alias (I think). Jeff's on the top right.



Above: I used our friend Gordon's very nice camera to take the photo above at a laser regatta.



Above: Jeff having a refreshing ice bath at the cottage.



Above: Jeff with our friend Parki. Parki's wearing my old cow cap.



Above: A photo I took of our group having lunch in the Kraus Hotsprings near the end of a gruelling but incredibly soul-satisfying canoe trip down the Nahanni River. Jeff's second from the left.

Below: A cartoon I sent in for CITY-TV's Breakfast Television valentines' contest about 18 years ago. I ended up winning the contest...and had to break it to Jeff that he and I were going to be on live television Valentines' Day morning, and that we had to be there at *6:30* a.m. He had had no idea I was entering the contest.



Jeff didn't actually see the poem above until Ann Rohmer (who was co-host at the time) read it aloud to him on live television. HAHAHA! The prize consisted of a limo ride to the Chestnut Park Hotel, a nice dinner, and one night's stay at the hotel. The limo never showed up, so we took a taxi but still had a nice dinner and hotel stay.

Jeff asked me not to enter any more contests where he'd have to wake up so early to be on live television.

Also see 42 Things I Love About Jeff.

Happy birthday, sweetie. :-)





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Squinky Chocolate

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. No, there's no such place as Squinky Books but I think there should be, don't you? "Squinky" is such a great-sounding word. I had no idea it was a real word (real as in being used, not necessarily being in the dictionary) until I found this Urban Dictionary entry after I did the comic above...I wanted to make sure I was accidentally saying anything really BAD (it's happened before, y'know).

1. Squinky

• When one is feeling unstable or is acting of a peculiar manner
  
• The state one reaches from days of sleep deprivation or drug use.
  

A Helpful Example: "Oh man, did you see Jodi at GAfilk on Sunday afternoon? She was totally squinky."

VIDEO O' THE DAY

(Courtesy Ladyat's Livejournal)

"SPIN" - It seems a bit slow at first, but the ending made it totally worth it for me. :-)





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