THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Saw the Simpsons montage that you guys helped out on this week. It was sooo darn funny. It’s really good. The writers, when they saw it, liked it so much, that they wanted more shots put in it. Lucky for us, we weren’t able to use all the suggestions we had, so we still have lots of shots left to put in. It’s going to be great. Even when you know it’s coming, when you see it, it’s just so funny. The way it’s put together is fantastic. I’m now working on storyboard revisions on the show and I have to add a few things to it that will make it even better. Everyone who helped should pat themselves on the back. It’s a great gag thanks to you guys.

BOARD GAMES
I play board games once in a while but I rarely write about doing so in this blog anymore. Mostly because it’s a bit difficult to write about it and make it seem exciting. It’s just something that happens and it’s fun when it does. Sometimes the playing of a game reinforces my opinion of a game (such as when a few weeks ago, we played another game of Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery. The game is just so great) and sometimes it makes me re-evaluate a game (such as two weekends ago when we played The Settlers of Catan. I’m actually thinking I want to buy an expansion for it, because I think the game needs a bit more “oomf”. It needs to be a little more complex for me. I still like the game though).

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery board game (pictured above. Picture from BGG)

The Settlers of Catan (pictured below).

Well, I’m going to writing about playing games this week. The reason being that I’ve started finding people to play the games with me besides my wife (who has decided to play LESS games with me). I believe I’ll be able to get more gaming in when my kids grow a bit older. They tend to be the reason I don’t play so much because they really need my attention whenever they are awake. After they go to sleep, it’s tough to invite people over for a game.

My cousin, her husband, and her two daughters would be great to play with but at the moment they have a similar problem that we have. They also have a little boy exactly the same age as my daughter (he had a birthday this last weekend. Happy Birthday Eduardito!”) and it would be a bit of a burden to have them over and find him a place to sleep or if he stays awake, keep him entertained. If we go over to their house, we would have the same problem with our kids. Either way, it’s not fair to the kids. So until the kids are a bit older, it’s a bit tough with them (although, to be quite honest, I haven’t really talked to them about it. We might be able to work something out.)

It’s tough with my brother and his wife, not because they have kids (although my sister-in-law is now pregnant so it’s going to happen soon. Very exciting) but because they don’t often have weekends off. The days they tend to have off are Mondays and Tuesdays, so that kinda messes things up a bit. It’s tougher scheduling things with them.

Out of my wife’s two best friends, one of them really loves to come over to play games. The only problem is that she doesn’t have a car, she lives in L.A. and even though she has a baby daughter the same age as Dante (which isn’t a problem), when she comes over, she pretty much has to stay overnight and we have to drive her back and forth from her house to ours, so it’s a big pain.

So what are my options? Well, I have three. This year has been the year of discovering old friends. Friends that I haven’t talked to for over ten years have suddenly started coming out of the wood work. First, I ended up getting in contact with one of my best friends from high school, who lives in Las Vegas (he was actually over at my house Sunday night and we had a long talk with him and his wife). That doesn’t help me much but I’ve started playing some “play by web” board games with him. Then, one of his best friend and neighbor (when he still lived around here), Andy, (who I also know) contacted me a few months back, and we discovered he lives five miles away from me. We’ve been playing a game of Chess via e-mail for the last month. Not only that, but he came over last Saturday and we played some games (more on that later). After that, yet another friend (a close friend of Andy’s) that we used to play role-playing games and Magic the Gathering with, contacted me. Turns out he has a game night every Sunday and he invited me to come over. Which I am sooo doing as soon as a get a chance (but I think if I do, it may need to be by myself).

Magic the Gathering card (pictured above).

T&E game (pictured below)

Suddenly, a lot of gaming opportunities have presented themselves. When Andy came over Saturday, we played Tigris and Euphrates (T&E) and Dreamblade. We played T&E mostly so I could teach him to play it. That way, he and our mutual friend from Vegas, can play the game via the Board Game Geek website. After playing that game (which he won by one point) we played Dreamblade. Dreamblade is a cross between Magic the Gathering and Chess with a random dice conflict resolutions. Since Andy was a huge fan of Magic the Gathering, back when it first came out, and since he’s a big Chess player, after playing Dreamblade, he got completely hooked. Not only did he beat the living daylights out of me in the Dreamblade game but the next day, he went down to the local game store and bought over a hundred dollars of Dreamblade stuff so that he could have his own (crazy). Before he left, we talked about maybe having a game night once a month on a Saturday night. He’s not married but he has a girlfriend (who briefly showed up that Saturday, but had to leave) who he said would probably be willing to came play also. Even if she doesn’t, a game with just three of us or, if Alesha doesn’t play, two of us, would still be fine. The best part is, that against Andy, I really don’t need to hold back when I play aggressive games, especially because he’s just as aggressive a player as I am.

I hope that I can get at least a game night going once a month. That would be great.

It feels good to have those friends back in my life. It’s been too long.

MEME

So Maria tagged me for this Meme thing because…she was curious…okay, I’ll play. This is what the Meme requires of me:

1. Link the person(s) who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay, here are my unspectacular quirks:

1. I tend to go everywhere with bulging pockets full of nick nacks.
2. I have a huge fat wallet and 99% of the time, there isn’t any money in it. What it’s in it? I have no idea.
3. My car is often littered with papers. Mostly supermarket receipts I haven’t thrown out yet.
4. It’s difficult for me to call people on the phone.
5. I’m often seen staring blankly at nothing because I daydream waaaaay too much.
6. I sometimes wear pants with holes in the knees.

Okay so now for the people I  tagged:

My sister

Fr. Roderick

Tommy Tejeda

Paul Wee

Mischa

Rob

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