Things I've learned so far this summer: Part 1

Living on one's own is somewhat of an adventure, particularly in the early times.  Learning to buy food and pay bills consistently are only a few parts of it, however.  Many other valuable life lessons are also learned alone the way.  Here is what I've gleaned so far:

• Hearts is a surprisingly fun game to play.
• Challenging someone to hack your Facebook is not a good idea.
• Especially if you eat dinner with them most nights.
• And if you have a tendency to have your laptop out, open, and unguarded around dinnertime.
• Always carry your keys with you.  You never know when someone is going to lock themselves in your room to hack your Facebook.
• Mounties are fun.
• So are grim reapers.
• I'd still much rather read young adult books like The Hunger Games trilogy than a grown-up book like Love Walked In.  Much better characters and plot.
• Peanut butter is not a substitute for ketchup, but it's not horrible on hot dogs.
• Grilling chicken in a pan is not a good idea if you don't know what you are doing.
• Teriyaki marinade is not the same as teriyaki sauce.  At all.  
• Some potatoes are too big to be properly baked in a microwave, but extra cheese can cover up any deficiencies in the cooking process.
• Life has a weird way of invading your schedule and making it both more awesome and more exhausting.
• Sleep is great, but living life is too.   
• Webcams are very bad quality cameras, but they do a good job of naturally blurring acne away.
• Nothing is perfect the first time, so try for what you want and then keep trying until you produce something great.
• Bolas save lives.

How To Deal with Alien Drug Lords

Before I begin the post proper, I would like to point out that right now, on the evening of the solstice, I am sitting outside in a hammock on a comfortably cool night with a light breeze.  I can faintly hear the sounds of happy volleyball players several hundred feet away, the waxing moon is shining bright in a cloudless sky, and I have a full WiFi signal.  No matter what small unhappinesses I face day to day, my life is beautiful right in this moment.

And now for something completely different: a story about an alien drug lord.

I have twice previously mentioned the ongoing story of my GURPS roleplaying character, Captain Luke Roberts.  On the second and final night of the campaign, a great deal of sneaking around and listening at doors led to a final confrontation with a winged alien drug lord.  I learned a few things from that confrontation.  Here, then, is a how-to guide for dealing with alien drug lords:

DO tell the drug lord that when two of his underlings attacked you, you temporarily incapacitated them with your bolas and were so able to end the encounter without killing or permanently injuring them.

DON'T tell him in the interest of full disclosure that three of his other alien subordinates also attacked you in the fight and had to be killed in self-defense.  It will get people shot in the arm.

And...that's about it.  But really, is there anything else to know?

It's my very last day with my friends and I'm leaving for an airplane in just over three hours so I'm posting quickly now in case I can't get back to a computer with internet access before midnight (and even if I do, I might be too exhausted to post).  So here's an old but great video from YouTube - one of the founding classics, you might say.  Even after all this time it still made me laugh to the point where I almost wasn't breathing.  Watch it with friends and/or people who haven't seen it before - it's about 5 times better that way.

The Life and Times of Captain Luke Roberts

This is my last night with my friends all together for who knows how long, so this is going to be a short post.  When it comes to blogging vs. friendship, friendship wins.

This is an update on Captain Luke Roberts, my RPG character who I referenced two posts ago.  On the first night of the campaign, he got hired for a job, discovered that the plant that produces the stims he uses has been stolen to be used by a drug lord, and has traveled to the asteroid mine used by the plant producers to try to recover some hostages and to get the drug shipment back.  Also, due to a critically failed dice roll which I had actually volunteered for, he not does not know that our P.I. team member is kleptomaniac and in fact trusts her so much that he gives her items to take care of.  Fun times.

Now he's stuck on the asteroid with a kleptomaniac P.I. and an assassin and only they can rescue the hostages and retrieve the shipment from six-fingered, clawed, winged aliens.  Can he make it?  Probably not.

Mountie Crack.

Imagine you are a modern-day pirate on Lake Michigan.  Then imagine that a full crew of Mounties on a tall ship start firing their cannons at you and then rappel on board.  This is the world of Due South, a show about a Mountie named Benton Fraser who, as he explains it, "First came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father and, for reasons which don't need exploring at this juncture, I have remained, attached as liaison to the Canadian consulate."  Fraser is polite, truthful, and oblivious - or, as dreamwaffles puts it, Dudley Do-Right played straight.

Also, he has a wolf.

She also describes the show as "Mountie crack", which, as my first two sentences would indicate, is a rather apt description.  I've only seen one episode, but the show is amazing.  My friend Nia described the show as a weird violation of the first law of tragicomedy in which drama increases with tension while comedy decreases.  In Due South, both the humor and drama increase with tension.  It's different than anything I've seen before, but it really works.  Check it out if you have some spare time.

Taking the night off for role-playing.

Hey guys!  I am on vacation but have still been blogging as if I'm not.  Well, now I'm taking the night off to start my friend's GURPS campaign.  I'm a space pirate named Luke Roberts who is basically Mal Reynolds with a stims addiction and first aid knowledge.  Also he can use bolas.  Anyway, I'm off to have fun with friends I won't see again for a very long time after this week, so this blog can take a one-night break from real content (depending on what you call real content, this break could have been going on for a very long time).  Goodnight!

One day I will have revenge!

WANTED

FOR STALKING ME AND RIGGING CARD GAMES

Seriously, I don't care if you're the queen.  I don't care if you love me above all other people who play Hearts.  You do NOT get to appear in my hands every single round like a sugar-high attention-seeking rabbit popping out of a magician's hat every five seconds whether it's wanted or not, disrupting the show and taking the magic out of the act.  YOU ARE NOT WANTED HERE.  Don't make me take out a restraining order on you.  It would hurt me more than it hurt you because I like being able to play card games with my friends.  It's kind of what I do.  But you are making it very hard on me, Your Majesty.  So go pester someone else for a while.  Oh, and go talk to the King of Hearts about how he's feeling.  I'm a bit worried about that sword in his head.

(I think I've played a few too many card games tonight)

Image taken from http://www.madore.org/~david/images/cards/english/queen-spades.png