The game is going well. Last night was our second session and we're starting to lay the groundwork for a party dynamic. Now if my Kakita-trained, Akodo-born ronin duellist could actually succeed in some sword-fighting checks for the Topaz Championship, it'd be great. :-)

But I write a mean haiku!

I've booked myself into a training workshop for level 1 Reiki in December.

It's something I've wanted to do for years, even before I knew Jen. My dad is certified to level 2 Reiki, and it was him who got me interested in it.

The workshop is on the 12th and 13th of December. I can't wait.

Ask a New Yorker is a website where you can post a questionon their forum and get an answer from native New Yorkers. I think a lot of my research issues might have been solved...

Autopsy reports are a matter of public record in Baltimore and Florida, but in New York, only next of kin can request them.

It's about time I did my frothing.

Gaelcon 2009 was awesome! The new venue alone is worth the admission in terms of convenience. 5 places to eat, including a late-night pizza place, and a small supermarket with off-licence, all in the one building. The only reason to leave the hotel was to go to the ATM across the road, and even then, everywhere in the hotel took Laser payments and gave cashback.

If Gaelcon's in the Ballsbridge Inn again next year, I'll be booking into the hotel for the whole weekend.

Tabletop games seemed to rule this year. There were huge lines to get tickets as they became available, and my Spirit of the Century game managed to draw 4 full tables. The game went down very well, as did Aonghus' Deadlands game which I GMed.

We stayed in the hotel on the Sunday. I'll just take this time to mention how great the hotel staff were. Everyone we dealt with was polite and helpful, which made the stay even better.

Didn't do much on the Sunday other than hang out a bit and chat with people. We watched the Dr. Horrible show, but to be honest found it very hard to follow what was happening. I think the next time a show like that is done, there really needs to be a budget set aside for proper AV equipment like radio mics and rifle mics, especially in a hall of that size. It looked like everyone had fun doing it. Costumes and props looked good, and though a few of the singers went off-key a little here and there, overall it looked like it was a decent show. Just wish I could've heard it.

I drank way too much on the Sunday and spent most of Monday trying to recover, so we picked up a copy of Settlers, which Jen has wanted for years, and played a couple of rounds of that.

Jen's been saying that this year was basically "Gaelcon: Reloaded," and that really sums up how we felt. The last few years Gaelcon hasn't felt like a lot of fun. This year totally changed that. Even when we weren't doing anything, the energy around the con was fantastic. There was so much choice for things to do, and such a variety of games on offer, particularly in rpgs.

Roll on next year!

I'll post more when I've had some sleep and had a chance to come down from the weekend.

Gaelcon was fucking awesome. The new venue was like a shot of adrenaline.

Going to go chill on the couch now. And then sleep.

Tonight I expect to be finishing up the first arc of my Conspiracy X campaign. It's been a lot of fun. More laid-back and just generally enjoyable than a lot of the Monday games have been for me recently. I much prefer games where the PCs share a common goal, whether that goal is set out in-game or decided upon by the players. Games that involve a lot of inter-party conflict but still require the PCs to work together just don't have the same draw for me.

Tonight we'll see if the group can rescue a group of abducted pregnant women and find out why they were taken in the first place. We haven't had any combat yet, and I think we might see our first bit of it tonight, so it should make for a dramatic finish.

There's simply no excuse for the lack of writing I've been doing. This weekend I've hopefully gotten the ball rolling on changing that, and gone back to my book. I have a lot of it roughly mapped out in my mind; it's just a case of stringing the pieces together, and getting past the dreaded "normal life" section before the actual plot begins.

Updates, rants, and desperate pleas for advice will be forthcoming.

I'm thinking about doing a second Christmas dinner this year, for friends rather than family.

I do a dinner every year, just usually for myself and Jen on St. Stephen's Day. Last year I cooked it on Christmas Day for myself, Jen and her mum.

I'm a firm believer in the saying that "friends are the family you choose for yourself," but it's always hard to see friends over the Christmas period because of family commitments. Since Christmas is meat to be about spending time with the people you love and showing how much you appreciate them, this is something I've long wanted to rectify.

So yeah, this year I'd like to have friends over for Christmas dinner, some time between the 25th and 31st. Just looking around to see who'd be interested at the moment.

I took yesterday off work because I'm sick. I should probably have taken today off as well. We'll see how this goes...

We got Pepper spayed on Monday. She's doing well. The stitching on her belly is very tidy and clean, and shouldn't leave much of a scar. She is still very low on energy, but Monday was a big day for her, and she's still probably very sore. This morning she was a little more active and trying to have her normal morning play before we dropped her to my parents' house for the day.

We're glad it's out of the way, though. I feel much more secure knowing that she's been fixed and we don't need to worry about my parents' husky going after her.

Why they haven't gotten him neutered is beyond me. Apparently their vet told them it would make him even more skittish, or something. Whereas our vet told us there should be no major behavioural changes at all.

Last night I ran the first session of my new Conspiracy X campaign. It went very well, I think. It's tough to determine the group dynamic just yet, but Janto's slightly crazy MK ULTRA scientist is awesome.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this first investigation goes. :-)

Jen and I went to see Dorian Gray with Brian on Friday. I was expecting a kind of jazzed-up adaptation cashing in on the vampire-romance craze, based on trailers and posters. It was actually an excellent movie and a great example of proper gothic, victorian horror. Definitely worth seeing and Ben Barnes gives a fantastic performance.

Yesterday we stocked up on some paint supplies and I got our wireless network set up before Dave and Michaela called out. We played Mwa-ha-ha-ha, which was fun.

Session 3 of my Buffy game is tonight. Last night I finished an opening credits video for the game, featuring the 4 first PCs. We have 6 players in total, but I didn't have enough information or material to add their characters to the first version. They can be added to the next one.

It was a lot of fun putting the video together, I'll have to post it online. I'm already hoping for a chance to do another one.

We have internet! Our Imagine broadband went live yesterday and I took it for a test drive last night. Currently, due to having apparently lost all my phone cables, and the layout of the living room, we have a very untidy and probably unsafe setup with cables stretching over to the laptop from the socket and phone point. The wireless router should arrive in a few days, though. Once we have that I can tidy the mess and we won't need to worry anymore. I've to pick up a wireless network card for the desktop PC this weekend.

I think the thing I've missed the most about having internet access is being able to contact people at almost any time of day. When you get used to that level of communication, losing it for any length of time can feel very isolating.

Well, we got through having family over on Saturday. It wasn't too painful, and we did get some free booze out of it.

I've begun work on an opening credits video for my Buffy campaign. The music I've edited up is 1 minute 14 seconds, and my sister also wants to join the game, so that's 6 characters I have to showcase in the video, while still giving some idea of the game's story and themes as well. I hopefully won't have to re-edit the music to lengthen it...

And I really need to get my Gaelcon scenario written and sent off. I think that may be tonight's work.

Buffy went well last night. We have a new player, Gwen, who's playing a typical White Hat - normal person in over her head, trying to help fight evil with no powers of her own.

Did I mention I've got a villain being played by David Tennant? :-)

I'm contemplating inviting people over for boardgames next Saturday. Maybe some Mwa-ha-ha-ha and Battlestar Galactica.

Jen and I saw Dylan Moran in Vicar Street last night. The show was fantastic. It took a little while for him to hit his stride, but it was hilarious. Can't wait for the DVD to come out.

Buffy tomorrow. Looking forward to that. It's nice having the front room set aside for gaming. It needs to see more use, though. I think having people over for a board game is in order.

On Monday I played Left 4 Dead before getting the Conspiracy X character creation finished. Now I want to play Left 4 Dead again. Might pick it up for the PC if it's worth playing single-player, or if there's anyone else out there who has it on PC...

This weekend I've got family coming over for a family housewarming. I'm hoping we can convince some friends to come over as well to ease the pain...

I'm looking forward to having internet access at home again, and being able to keep up with things when I'm not at work.

Colm's wedding on Thursday was excellent. My Jen and I are thrilled for him and his Jen. :-)

The Dromhall Hotel was gorgeous. Very nice room, good staff, and a delicious breakfast. All in all, a good trip, though the drive was pretty exhausting. Took us the better part of the weekend to recover.

On Saturday Jen had her first violin lesson, which went well enough that her teacher has decided to skip ahead to sheet music instead of starting with bow-work. That evening we started our Buffy game, which will be running in our Thursday slot, but for the sake of getting to start the game and put the front room to use we had the first session on Saturday.

( Buffy Stuff )