It Was Called Oktubafest

What happened last night? Only a epic get-together at the Mercury Lounge featuring seven different Oktoberfest brews (including a special guest appearance by one from the Brewhouse, brought by Brewmaster Pete Johnson) and a load of German drinking songs played by ensemble of fourteen tubas. Did you miss it? That’s really too bad.

Update

Fitness: Rest day
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 217 seven-day average, 284 average, 54239 total, 761 to go for the week

Don't Call It a Comeback, I've Been Here for Years

Remember how my friends Diana and Adam got a married a few weeks ago? They had karaoke at their reception (making it the second wedding I’ve been to that has), which made me ask them, “How come we’ve never done karaoke together?” The response was “We didn’t know you did it.” And at least for the last little while that’s been true.

I’ve always been a singer. I did a ton of school choir growing up, I was in a guys’ quartet in high school, and I sang in an a cappella group in college. But my first real experience with karaoke was almost five years, when I started doing improv. There were several people in the group who had connections to the Ventura karaoke scene, so it was common for us to head over after Monday workshops to a nearby bar that had karaoke. I had a lot of fun with it, but as the group’s membership changed, we lost some of that connection, and I moved up to Thursday workshops, I stopped doing it entirely.

Until this week, of course. Last Thursday while I was out for drinks with the SBTweetup group, Adam texted me about doing karaoke this week. I said yes, and my friend Erica — who happened to be with me when I got the text — decided to come along. This Tuesday I made my triumphant return with Lynryd Skynyrd’s “Call Me The Breeze”, The Talking Heads’ “And She Was”, and Bobby Darin’s, “Mack The Knife.”

I’m already thinking about what to do next week.

Update

Fitness: Ran 2 miles
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 330 words, 271 seven-day average, 285 average, 54239 total, 761 to go for the week

Camping, Gaming, and Ideas

I’m back from the eighth Nerdly Beach Party, held (usually) twice-a-year near Cambria, California. As always, it was a fantastic time with friends who I get to see far too infrequently. I ended up playing in two games, both of which were great fun and have me thinking about doing something based on them.

On Friday night, Jesse, Ryan, and I played a Sorcerer and Sword game that was an homage to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (with plenty of other references thrown in as well). I realized during my run on Saturday that the world could well have been the far future of the one in the novel I’m working on, which provoked a number of ideas. It also made me aware of how much I love what Rob Donoghue has called the “Two Guys with Swords” genre and how I may need to write some of that fiction.

On Saturday afternoon, I played in a Star Wars game set during the Knights of the Old Republic period using the mechanics from the Smallville RPG. I continue to be impressed by how well that ruleset handles relationship dramas regardless of setting. (The last game I played with it was in a William Gibson-inspired cyberpunk milieu.) I’m now tempted to run something with it, perhaps at the Endgame Minicon next month. Perhaps — if I get it figured out — in the world of Crimson Skies.

It’s always easy to get inspired at events like. The trick is to do the work to turn that inspiration into reality.

Update

Fitness: Rest day
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 251 words, 326 seven-day average, 282 average, 50544 total, 44 past the goal for the week; 1-day streak

A Very Special Day Indeed

My friends Diana and Adam got married today, and I am honored to have been a part of it. Theirs was one of the most personalized and personal weddings I’ve seen. It featured The Final Countdown as entrance music, special vows involving the acquisition of chocolate, drinks served in mason jars, karaoke, an amazing three-in-one cake baked by the best man (who was a woman), and a staged fight over the bouquet that included a man in a kilt. It was unique to say the least.

Congratulations, you two.

Update

Fitness: Rest day
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 507 words, 392 seven-day average, 281 average, 48264 total, 264 past the goal for the week; 12-day streak

Not Quite Seven

With Labor Day behind us, summer is now over. How’d I do on my Top Ten for Summer?

Previously Done

• Semana Nautica 15K
• Portland trip
• West Coast Meeple Fest
• Baseball at Dodger Stadium

Recently Completed

• Dashiell Hammett’s novels: I finished The Glass Key, completing my read-through of Hammett’s novels.
• Day in Santa Ynez: We ended up doing a semi-private vineyard tour and barrel sample tasting at Fiddlehead Cellars, which was amazing. The ride through the vineyard on a flower cart, with the owner/winemaker explaining the site to us, was completely unexpected and absolutely fabulous.

Sort of Done

• LARPing Labor Day Weekend: I ended up just doing one of the events I’d originally thought about, but it ended up being bigger and more fun that I thought it could. Technically I only completed half of this, but I made the right choice.
• Symphony “Concerts”: I’m almost halfway there. I’ve listened to three of the seven concerts for next season. That gets me through January, and I’m going to try to finish these off in the next few weeks.

Didn’t Do At All

• Concert at the Bowl
• Picnic on the Beach

So I score that as six and two halves out of ten. I’ll take it. Now to figure out what I want to do this fall.

Update

Fitness: None
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 395 words, 111 seven-day average, 270 average, 43728 total, 1772 to go for the week; 2-day streak