LAN party 2

Well we finally got started just after 2pm having planned to start at 10am. It was an ok game although from my point of view it was a little boring. I always say that I don't mind what race I play in botf but next time I would like to play a race that is half decent. I spent the entire game expanding and creating small colonies that never became anything useful. I didn't have enough cash to bribe any of them and I didn't have enough ships to trash any of them. Just when it started getting fun for me (after adam got battered and started giving me all his money) it was time to stop.
Anyway I'm off out to town with Russ tonight. I don't think either of us are particularly enthusiastic about it but Russ needs a night out after breaking up with Jo. Who knows, I may post here when I get in tonight. More likely I will be far too drunk.

LAN party

So I'm at Russ's house to play some botf which is a totally cool game except for one thing. It never works. There's always someone who cant load the game or join the game or some other such problem. We were supposed to start at 10am and its now about quarter to 2. The thing is that me and Russ are going out tonight which means that we almost certainly don't have enough time to play botf anymore which probably means we will end up playing something that I don't really want to play. Wahey.

DDDD

So guess what? Damian isn't coming tonight. I just got a text from him.
14m3r. I wonder why he isn't coming. Hmm what could it be. Nope, can't think of anything. It's such a shame when a man isn't allowed to spend time with his mates but that's Jenna for you.

DDD

Spoke to D. He doesn't seem too happy about it (or rather Jenna doesn't seem to happy about it) but I'm almost 100% certain that Jenna will not be joining us tonight.
At least things didn't go quite the way I thought in my DD post.
ttfn

BB quotes

I've seen some really good BB quotes and I wanted to put them all down here so I don't forget them:

"Like a Halfling at a urinal, I knew I was going to have to stay on my toes..."
"The few, the proud, the three on the line."
"Bloodweiser. The best an Orc can git."
"Touchdown!"
"Dead, dead, dead!"
"Gentlemen, start your chainsaws."
"Fan factor of 1."
"No sir, this isn't my Death-Roller."
"You're right, he does have very long legs."
"Zara thinks you're cute."
"A knee in the groin is worth two in the face."
"What are the odds I'd roll another one?"
"Triple skulls."
"Argue the call!"
"Nice: Perfect Blood Bowl weather."
"Inside every Troll, ders a lil gobo trying da get out."
"The Halfling team is overpowered."
" Wez got dis one in da bag!"
"Any day now."
"Everyone surround the Rat Ogre."
"Illegal procedure!"
"It's only a 2+ roll."
"I've got a reroll."

DD

So D said he wanted to come to the roleplay tonight. I spoke to him last night and he said he wanted to bring Jenna (his girlfried) with him.
Some back story is needed here:
When we used to roleplay at uni Jenna would constantly call D throughout the session and he would constantly have to sweet talk her to keep her happy. This would mean constant interruptions to the game. When she was actually present at the session it would mean even more interruptions since she was invariably bored and wanted even more attention from D.
Fast forward a couple of years. Me and Laura are living in Warrington and I manage the impossible by arranging for the only 5 people I know who play B5 ccg to come to our house to play one big game. This includes D. He brings Jenna with him but I'm not too worried because Laura is around and she can keep Jenna entertained while we play. Jo (Russel's then girlfriend) is also there hanging out with Laura. Laura and Jo are really good friends. Laura and Jenna have only just met. Into the afternoon the girls start talking about going out into Warrington on a night out since it looks like our game is going to go on forever. Jo mentions that she has no shoes with her and Laura kindly says that she can wear her Pods (apparently quite expensive shoes), in fact Laura goes on to say that Jo can have the shoes since she never wears them. The shoes don't fit Jo but immediately Jenna jumps in and says she will have them. This puts Laura in quite a difficult situation. It's one thing to offer a pair of shoes to your good friend but quite another to give them to someone you don't even know. Regardless Laura gave the shoes to Jenna as she didn't want to create bad feelings between them.
Fast forward to now.
So I mention to Laura that Jenna will be at the roleplay session. The roleplay session is being held at my mum and dad's house and Laura immediately says she is staying in Warrington. I can sympathise with her. She doesn't want to spend an entire evening looking after Jenna since she doesn't really like her that much but at the same time this leaves us in a situation where Jenna will have to sit in with the roleplay group. As Laura then said - can Jenna not leave D alone for five minutes so he can go and do guy stuff with his guy mates?
So I text D. I ask him if he would mind leaving Jenna at home. I tell him that I can't be sure if Laura will be there to hang out with Jenna and that since we are at my parents house she can't really just go and watch tv or something like that. I also point out that Jenna doesn't really mix with our roleplay sessions.
I have as yet received no reply from D. There are three things that could be happening:
1. D is pissed off. He thinks he should be able to bring Jenna with him and that there should be no problem. If this is the case then he most likely won't turn up tonight.
2. D understand where I am coming from. Unlikely but if this is the case then he is probably trying to make Jenna understand as well and that is why he hasn't texted me back. If this is the case then who can say whether he is still coming tonight.
3. D hasn't received my text. He has a really old phone which apparently has problems with text messages. If he hasn't received my text then he will still be coming along tonight with Jenna.
Not one of these scenarios is particularly pleasant. I didn't want to text D last night but at the end of the day I don't want to have to run a roleplay session with Jenna sat there. It's the same for any girlfriend. Unless that particular girldfriend is an avid roleplayer she will be in the way and distracting their boyfriend.
So I will probably have to call D later today. If I don't then scenario 3 could be true and if Jenna does come then it will be no fun for anyone. In any case I should probably call D to explain myself a little better. I expect that unfortunately D will not come tonight and will most likely not be in touch ever again. It's a damn shame.

Stadium update

Added a couple of bits onto my stadium last night - it seems to be progressing really slowly but it'll be worth the wait. I have seriously got my measurements wrong (compared to the one the other guy did) but it's looking ok anyway so I will keep going with it. I certainly won't invest in building the second half until the first half is finished to my satisfaction.

D

Just had a text from Damian (my old friend from uni). Havent seen him in ages but I mentioned to him that I am running a Merp session tomorrow night and he said he would be there. Now I just need to confirm with everyone else that I am still running the Merp session...

Asbestos

We got the survey back last night on the house we are buying. Guess what came up? Asbestos. Wahey. So now (from what I can tell) we are looking at 2 possible outcomes.
1. We pull out of the sale. We have spent £350 on a survey which we will have to spend again on whatever house we find next. Also we have to find another house. This will take time and so will all the motions etc so this has almost certainly pushed back the completion date.
2. We stick with the sale. There is no way we can pay for the asbestos removal so this option only works if the current owner is willing to pay for the work. This is highly unlikely. The only thing that might make them do it is the fact that they will probably get the same response from everyone who has a survey done on their house. Even if this does happen though it will still mean delays on the completion date.

Not good. Not good at all.

Stadium

So I started making a bloodbowl stadium last night based on one I had seen online. I say "based on one" because I had to guess at the measurements and my stadium is a bit smaller than the one I saw online. At the moment I don't think it will be too much of a problem. I should still be able to fit in four rows of models. I am slightly concerned about the tower since I will be forgoing his pringles box (too big for my stadium) and using something along the lines of a kitchen roll tube instead.
To be fair, this is a trial run. With the best will in the world I will still make something that I will be proud of and I will possibly sell it to cover the cost of making it and then start on a second one which will be bigger and better because of my previous experience.
I have also seen a couple of other stadium layouts that I might try in the future but for now I will stick with the one I have.

Waterbowl

So last night I went to Waterbowl (www.waterbowl.co.uk)
Its a bloodbowl league in waterstone in manchester. I had a really good time. I won my game (hurrah!) and it seems really well run rather than our league which is clearly not. I will definitely be going next week and I hope I can set up some games in the interim although I am a little busy this week.
I got to town last night and parked up in the AMC carpark before realising that Laura had my switch card and I had no cash on me. Fortunately I managed to get back out of the carpark before I got charged and even more forunately managed to find somewhere to park for free in the center of manchester.
The guys there seem really nice and my game was incredibly close. His only touch down was so lucky that I couldn't believe it. 3 dodge rolls (3+,3+,4+) then a pick up on a 6+ which he failed and had to reroll with sure hands and passed then one more dodge roll and finally two go for its. My Kroxigor almost got killed in my first game (although I had an apothecary anyway) but fortunately he was only badly hurt. I have a skink missing the next game but since my team rating is so low it shouldnt really matter - I'll just buy some extra players as inducements.
I'm really looking forward to the next one. Since no one seems bothered about our league anymore anyway, I will suggest that anyone who wants to continue playing should join waterbowl. Its an already established league with lots of teams who turn up regularly. Its like a league filled with me and Russ's - we always turn up and we are quite happy to do all the work to make it fun for everyone.
ttfn

Age of empires

Bought Age of empires on saturday. Its ok but really hard and its kind of limited. What I mean by that is this:
In my first few games I set the game to random map with all the default settings. I got battered about three times.
In the next game I turned down the number of opponents and didnt see the guy until I reached the top of the tech tree at which point I just built a load of the best units and battered him. I suppose it is quite an old game now. Might look around for some similar games.
Also bought Settlers 3 (an impluse buy at the counter - i think its the first time I've ever bought something on impulse)
After speaking to Russ about it on Saturday night I dont think I will even bother opening it. It sounds like quite a good game but one that will take forever to play and will involve very little gameplay.
Might also look into buying Civ 3.

The Dad saga.

Forgot to mention. Although I didnt actually manage to talk to my Dad while we were away (about what? who knows?) he did say that he wanted to meet up one night this week to talk.
God only knows what he wants to talk about. Probably the problems him and mum are having but I cant imagine what he wants to say.

Holiday.

So saturday morning we set off on holiday. The M6 is a carpark so a journey that should have taken just over an hour (2 hours max) took about 4 hours. In the baking hot sun. Not good.
We arrived to find that the cottage was really nice. Which was nice.
Early on we all went down to a river close by and me and Laura went paddling which of couse ended up in us getting soaked. Afterwards my Dad asked me if I wanted to walk back with him. It was clear that he wanted to talk to me about something but I was shattered and had to decline. When we got back I tried to talk to him but he fobbed me off by telling me he would talk to me later.
The next day he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I was in the bath so had to follow him a little later. When I caught up with him he had plenty of opportunity to talk to me and didnt. I decided that I had given him plenty of chance to talk to me by then and if he wanted to talk to me he could ask again later.
Me and Laura then went berry-picking later that day. It was pretty fun - one of those things that you do less for itself and more for the company. That night I stayed up way too late playing games with Reece.
The next day I was awoken far before I was ready to be woken. Fairly obviously I was in a bit of a bad mood but whereas everyone gave me some space to wake up and cheer up, Laura decided that if I was in a bad mood, she was in a bad mood. Good call Laura.
Anyway, later that day we went to a pitch and putt in the country. To be fair it was more of a putt and putt. And there were only 9 holes. My Dad randomly said "well isnt life crap" which was really random and he didnt elaborate. Either he is really bad at trying to talk to me or he is going through a weird faze.
Kieran joined us at some point and me and him got totally plastered on Thursday night. It was a really good evening but we talked quite a lot about his relationship problem - ie his girlfriend - and in the end I overheard him talking to her on the phone saying that he was paying for a holiday for them both. I was not impressed. Kieran is in enough debt already without paying for a holiday for them. I borrowed his phone and told Sophie (his girlfriend) that she was responsible for his debt and then hung up.
Kieran was not impressed and we had a huge argument. I think everything is ok between us now although we didnt really speak after that. Not looking forward to my next meeting with Sophie but at the end of the day everyone is thinking what I said and everyone wished she would just piss off and die (even Kieran) so next time we meet up I might continue treating her the way I feel about her.
Anyway, I got really ill on Friday. I puked when I ate and I still feel ill now.
We went home on Saturday and forunately the traffic was ok so we made good time. I met up with Russ on Saturday night. We were supposed to be going to town but I wasnt feeling great so we met up at my house and watched a movie instead. He mentioned that Jo had said that she wanted to talk to him on Sunday and he had a feeling that it was going to be crunch time.
Sunday I got a text from Russ. It said "It's over"
He seems to be ok although I dont know how much he will tell me. I will have a better idea next time I see him. He has moved back in with his parents for now although I have told him that if he wants to come and stay with us then he is welcome.
Anyway, thats all for now. I've really rushed through everything but I dont have time to fill in all the details. I might make some more posts later to fill in some of the gaps (probably not though)

Brief rundown.

Early on:
Go on holiday. Cottage is sweet. Weather is great.
Go paddling in river. Go berry picking with Laura.
*Something* happens with Dad.

Mid-week:
Rain stops play. Strangeness continues with Dad.
Get VERY drunk and call Kieran's girlfriend...

End of week/this weekend:
Recover from drunkeness. Come home.
See Russell. Russ and Jo break up...

More later.

I'm back!

I bet everyone is so happy I'm back. All the zero people who regularly read my blog.
It's been quite a good week with some things of note happening which I will post about later.
Just wanted to check in and post before I die of not posting.