Proof positive that I'm a complete geek.

I'm reading through the Something Positive archives; and have come to a strip that references Dale Earnhardt's death at the Daytona 500.

One of the characters mentions "stopping the tape mid-roll".

I immediately thought "Earnhardt didn't roll. He was bumped and went into the wall, then rolled to the infield."

I'm a complete geek.

The stupid, it burns!!!

I just had door-to-door Christians come by.

Nice couple of zombies, repeating what they learned by rote and obviously puzzled when I failed to immediately drop to my knees and scream "praise Jesus!"

One of them mentioned that the hurricane currently swamping New Orleans was God's punishment for Mardi Gras.

"OK, but why would God punish people for holding a Christian festival?"

"Mardi Gras has nothing to do with Christ!"

"Au contraire! Mardi Gras is a traditional week of excess leading up to Lent. It has Papal sanction which is what mattered when the tradition began."

I then had to explain Lent. And that for more than half of its history, there were only two major churches following Jesus, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox.

They had no idea who Martin Luther was.

I was growing tired of them, and politely said it had been interesting chatting, but I am an atheist and really not interested. That evidently was a keyword in their little 64k brains, for it triggered another speech.

"Can you prove God doesn't exist?"

"Nope, can you prove he does?"

That stopped them for a second. So I went in for the kill.

"How about Santa Claus, is he real too?"

"Of course not!"

"Prove it."

More silence and troubled looks between them. Here they were fucking up my Sunday trying to save me, and I was shaking them up.

"I mean, I've seen Santa Claus, spoken too him, sat on his lap.. either of you ever see Jesus?"

"Well, noo.."

"And when I was eight I got the Guns of Navaronne play set! No way would my parents buy that for me, so it had to be Santa, right? So how can you say God and Jesus, who nobody sees, hears from, or gets cool presents from, is real, while Santa, who is in the bloody Macy's parade every year, isn't?"

"Well, those are people dressed as Santa, not the real thing."

"Prove it. Prove that every single person with a jolly beard and a red suit is not Santa."

It was obvious that their training in door-to-door annoying had included the lesson "never walk away when you have a conversation going". I decided to show mercy.

"Look, you seem like a nice couple of kids. But I have a burrito to feed and a cat to throw in the microwave, so i have to cut this short. Just remember that at one time you believed with all your heart in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and for all I know the monster under the bed. These were cultural lies you were told, and you got over learning the truth. Now you still believe in another being you can't actually see. I ask you to consider this: what is the difference between the stories you were told about Santa Claus and the ones you were told about God? Have a good day!"

Last I looked they were out on the sidewalk arguing.


Crossposted to gridlore and mock_the_stupid

OK, another gaming poll.

OK, my life has now become stable enough to consider gaming again. I really, really want to do a face-to-face game because my job, while something I love, is fairly solitary and I'd like to do something social.

I have literally dozens of campaign concepts sitting in my campaign folder, and could adopt almost any of them to any setting or period. One rule is no d20. I don't own any of the books, and don't want them. I'd be interested in exploring HERO a little more in depth, either as part of a hard-science SF game or for fantasy.

A couple of things I ask of my players.

1. Keep commitments. If we have a scheduled session, and someone flakes, it impacts everyone.
2. Be about the character. I'd rather have someone playing a flawed character who is interesting than yet another combat machine.
3. Be active. I use plot cards and love it when players help fill out the nooks and crannies in my worlds.
4. Be understanding. We're all adults, and most of the people who I think will be interested in this have jobs. If I or another player get slammed at work and are a little under prepared for the game, show mercy.

Games will run on Sundays. That is my one guaranteed day off a week. I would like to start noonish to give 5-8 hours of gaming time and allow a reasonable time for people to get home.

If you are interested in a game starting in the next few months (depending on what people want) please fill out the poll. Remember, this is for a face-to-face game either at my home or some central location.

[Poll #560709]

Major bummer!

And some serious weirdness.

After posting my gaming quiz (by the way, when you click "Other, detailed in comments", please leave a comment so I know what you are trying to tell me.) I was thinking about gaming products, and hit the Hero Games site. One of the products intrigued me, but I never buy sight unseen. "I know!" I said to the chair, "I'll go to Gamescape, check the book out, and since I have cash, pick it up if it works for me!"

Gamescape is in Palo Alto, about 25 miles from here. Jump in the car, drive up, park.. and notice there seems to be a BBQ in the back. Odd...

Wander around to the front, where I'm greeted with a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE! banner.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not my FLGS!

The weirdness part comes in here. I hadn't been to the store in months (no money, no reason to go) and normally on my days off I'm pretty rooted.. so why today did it suddenly become vital for me to race off in search of a RPG book; the very day the store was closing?

Turns out the last day was today, and the shelves were picked over. A few d20 items, some third-rate publishers' works, and a few copies of Dungeon magazine were all that were left. Even an invitation to help myself to anything I wanted from the used shelf for free didn't turn up anything worth taking.

Goodbye Gamescape, and to all of you who worked there over the years, thank you. Thank you for being there during my chemo when I needed to lie down in your back room for an hour. Thank you for letting me autograph all the copies of Ground Forces that came in. Thanks for being a cool store, a cool staff, and good luck in where ever life takes you all.

Damnit, this makes three great stores I've had close out from under me (The Game Table and Planet 10 were the others.)

I'd go to mail order, but I hate ordering game books like that. I want to see the work, judge the content, before buying. Even the best writers and companies crank out some bilge, and I want to avoid that. Now I have to find a game store that carries Hero products and SJG stuff. jemstone, where do you go?

Ah, well. (opens beer) To the Friendly Local Game Store, and all who staff them!

*CRASH*

More gaming stuff..

This is an idea I've been toying with for a couple of years... The Thousand Isles campaign.

( With a fair wind and click on the link, we're off! )