Another Meeting

Sadly, on Sunday we did not roleplay. Instead we played minigames galore. Even worse, this upcoming Sunday is the last meeting before Tom goes off to college, and I'm pretty sure others are already going to be leaving before then. I'm really going to miss those weekly meetings. They started in fifth grade with just Peter, Bob, and I. Tom was our DM, and I think the only minigame we really played was Munchkin. As time progressed, Tom's brothers joined us in our second campaign. Bob tried to DM, Peter tried to start a LOTR roleplaying game, and we attempted Ironclaw, Call of Cuthulu, Modern D20, and Munchkin D&D. I had some fun times in that house. I remember beating each other with foam weaponry when we were in fifth grade, playing Heroscape in Tom's room, building Playmobil castles. I remember when the Hubbards and Steve starting coming and we had an awesome D&D campaign, and then an awesome GURPS campaign, and then a fun Star Wars mini campaign. Then Peter brought Alex, and Peter faded away. Then Bob faded away after Angela starting coming every once in awhile. Then Joe started coming, Angela would rarely come, and Bob started showing up. I remember Rachel's, Evan's, Andrew's, and my attempts to DM. I remember Steve's short WoW and Star Wars campaigns that had really no structure, and Alex's failed Modern D20 campaign. It's been such a big part of my life, and the only time I really ever saw most of those people, I don't know what I'm going to do without it. I at least have the next meeting to say goodbye to those who will be there.

The Second and Third Floor

I woke up Saturday expecting to do nothing, but to my pleasant surpirse found a message from Tom on my phone. He said that there was a meeting that night in addition to Sunday's. I was so happy. I arrived to find Steve, Evan, and Joe. Before we started roleplaying, we played this game called Airships where you try and build airships or the Hindenburg. It's really simple. After Evan won, we started on the second floor. The first thing of interest was we saw someone running down a hallway. Then we heard a clanging noise in the distance. Steve and I went to inspect the running figure, while Evan and Joe went towards the clanging noise. Steve and I discovered my brother Archer, and I ran into the room to hug him after I thought he accidently set off a fireball. He was able to avoid my hug and then cast Greater Invisibility. Disappointed that I didn't get the heartfelt reunion I wanted, I sulked to the next room where Steve was. A little ball was following me, and I tried to kick it out of the room, but it exploded when I kicked it. Luckily I rolled a natural twenty on my reflex save, so I somehow avoided the explosion that was right in my face. We reunited with Evan and Joe who had found Sarah, my brother's lover. Then Archer, under the safety of invisibility, began attacking us. We fought him until Sarah feinted him and then stabbed him, hitting his spine and killing him. I freaked out, knowing that if that was really Sarah she wouldn't attack Archer, and attaked the fake Sarah. It turned out to be Drak disguised as Sarah. Drak told us that wasn't really Archer, well it was, but he was brought back by Sarim, after dying in the mountain collapse, to do her bidding. I took out my emotions, destroying a nearby lounge room, and we continued to the clanging sound. We arrived on a balcony, only to be attacked by Hangmen. After we defeated them, the zombies that Evan had discovered after he broke through the ceiling started falling to the ground. We didn't know what they were doing, so we moved on to the now empty third floor. Unfortunately, the zombies formed a giant zombie ball and started firing zombies through the third floor's wall. We fended them off as we tried to get into the door that looked oddly like Tommy's mouth. Steve and Evan got in on their own, but I had to throw Joe in and then tumble through the zombies and then jump into the mouth. And that was it for the encounter. We finished the meeting by playing more minigames. It was a fun night.

Two Fridays in One and an Opening Ceremony

Alright, so Friday the 8th Kayla invited me to go ice skating with her and others at the Mentor ice rink. So Tony V, Brianna, Kayla, Dan, and I went ice skating. Now I have never been ice skating, so I was in for a challenge. Kayla tried hard to teach me, but I'm pretty sure it would have been easier to learn if I was ten years younger. Unfortunately I had a deprived childhood. My mom didn't want to sign me up for anything because my brother never stuck with anything. I wanted to do a lot too. I wanted to do gymnastics, karate (or some other form of martial arts), and I wanted to learn how to ice skate like my brother did. None of that came to fruition, so here I was being held by Kayla as she tried to teach me something I should have learned when I was five. Nevertheless, I had fun, and I started to pick it up at the end. I would like to go ice skating again so I can practice and get better. It's like swimming for me, I love the pool, but I don't know how to swim and it's something I want to learn. Anyways, after skating we went to TGI Friday's for lunch. It was okay, our waitress had an "I hate my life" attitude, so she kind of brought everything down a little. Then we walked around downtown Willoughby to kill some time before we left for Julie's birthday party. Julie's was fun. We watched the opening ceremony of the Bejeing Olympics, which was awesome, and we talked with Ben's smart bromate who is a Hollister model (and we're pretty sure just a body model, not a face). Nick and Kenny arrived from the Lifeguard Games dressed in the most ridiculous outfits, and we all enjoyed Kenny's suffering after he realized he locked his keys in his car for the second time that day. After several phone calls, and some man power, Kenny was able to get in his car. I left with Nick and Kenny, and had to ride all over the place since Kenny couldn't make up his mind about going to this lifeguard party. I offered to just go to the party so Kenny didn't have to drive me all the way back once he decided he was going, but Nick and Kenny didn't want to make me feel awkward and didn't want to feel even more akward themselves. After they dropped me off at home finally, I thought about how alone I feel. Even with all the friends I have, I don't feel like I really belong or fit in any of them. I feel like an island surrounded by the continents that are my groups of friends. Now that I'm going to college and I'm separating from a lot of my friends, I feel like those continents are slowly drifting away, and the island of me is truly alone. Sorry if I'm being a real Debbie Downer, but I just wanted to get that out, and I find it easier to express myself through writing more than talking.

More to come

I am going to take a break from writing, but more will be up within the next 24 hours. I leave tomorrow night for my orientation, so there will be nothing until either late Thursday or Friday after I finish. I will make sure you have this past weekend's events to read, especially my most recent trip into Steve's castle.

Kidnapping Brittany

Now, for awhile Simone and I have known that Person L was coming to the Grog Shop, and for awhile she kept telling our friend Brittany she was going to blindfold her on the day of the concert and not tell her where we were going because she really likes Kenny Vasoli, the lead singer. Now I wasn't sure if she was actually going to do it, but after Brittany's graduation party, I was pretty sure she was. I got a ride to Simone's house, then we drove to Brittany's where Simone blindfolded her and lead her into the car. Brittany had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. She kept saying we were taking her to ComiCon (which is all the way in San Diego and over at this time), but we assured her we weren't. Coventry was blocked off because it was the montly Street Arts Fair, which neither of us had planned on, but luckily I knew how to get us near the Grog Shop thanks to my earlier trip to the Fair with Justin. So we walked blindfolded Brittany down the street getting all sorts of stares and what not, making completely sure she had no idea where we were, and when we were in line the other people got into the spirit and made sure to keep Brittany out of the loop. But Brittany was smart. She figured out we were in Coventry because she smelled smoke and assumed we were near scene kids. We assured her we were not, but she still had suspicions that we were on Coventry. Inside, we had Brittany take a picture with Kenny Vasoli while she was still blindfolded and he went along with everything. The people around us made sure they were careful not to reveal anything, and even though they had some slip ups Brittany didn't hear. But once again Brittany surpirised us by asking if she took a picture with Kenny Vasoli, and yet again we denied her truth filled claims. We finally took the blindfold off when he started singing, and Brittany lost it. She was so happy. After Person L, we decided to take a quick dinner break and went over to Chipotle. We returned to the Grog Shop to watch Anthony Green, the headliner. There were some crazy and some belligerent people, but we enjoyed the show a lot. After the show was over, we stopped at Guy's and got one dollar slices before Simone's mom picked us up. That was Thursday.

Update

I apologize to my readers who haven't been filled in on my daily goings on for almost a week now. We are going to start with Wednesday the 6th. On Tuesday I wanted to go to the Art Museum and the Cleveland Institute of Art to see their galleries. Unfortunately I don't know anything about buses so I missed the bus I needed to take by getting on the circular. So on Wednesday I asked my stepdad to drive me to University Circle and he did. It was a beautiful day. I visited the Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor exhibit. They both do photomontage, but Jerry doesn't use digital he uses film. Jerry Uelsmann has some beautiful photos that I love, even if I wish he had excluded certain parts, but I don't think he is that amazing. I applaud him for the stunning technique he developed for classic photographers and his surreal impossibilities, but a lot of his work seems the same to me. He often uses the same scenes, just putting different things in them, and often just sticks things in that seem to unbalance the photo or drawn attention away from the main subject, or not fit in at all. My friends may love him, but I find him unique but unimpressive. Maggie Taylor is okay. She scans tin types and makes surreal digital montages. Before going into the museum I walk around Wade Park, the beautiful little area in front fo the museum. It was very relaxing and serene and I wanted to just sit there and sleep. After that, I went into the Art Museum and ate lunch. I had delicious chicken noodle soup and a green tea. Yes Anna, I talked about soup. Then I explored the beautiful collections located at the museum. I found I really like well done religious or mythological paintings. I learned I like Poussin, and someone named Winslow Homer who I have heard of before but I don't remember where. I finished at the art museum and then did actually try to fall asleep on the grass in Wade Park. I didn't, but I did read the Plain Dealer at the Case library. After that I tried to reach my stepdad to get home, but I couldn't get a hold of him, so I decided I'd walk to Coventry and eat at Tommy's while I waited for my mom to come get me. And that was Wednesday.

HARRY AND THE POTTERS!

I went to see Harry and the Potters tonight with Simone and Justin. It was awesome. We came in at the end of the first band, Uncle Monsterface, so we don't know how good or bad they were, but the next band, Math the Band was awesome. They had great energy, and not half bad songs. I really liked them, but not as much as I liked Harry and the Potters. They were awesome. They came out with a new CD, which I definitely need to get. I bought a tee shirt from them that says Save Ginny with a silhouette of a basilisk and a little girl. We met Simone's friends there, friends she got into Harry and the Potters, and their drunk relatives. After the concert we got a couple pictures with Paul and Joe, the sibling duo that is Harry and the Potters, that took awhile because of the drunk relatives having trouble with the camera. Then we stopped at the Guys Pizza on Coventry, but they didn't have pizza ready, so we went to the one on 222nd. We enjoyed our pizza in Justin's car (I got an extra piece for free), and then I was promptly dropped off at home. I wished I was able to explain how insanely awesome the Harry and the Potters show was, you just had to be there to experience the nerdy goodness and nerdy mosh pits.

Sorry, Saturday and Sunday

Sorry about the lapse of time without a post, but I haven't really had the time or the right environment to post. We will start with Saturday. I went to my friend Brittany's graduation party with Simone. It was nice because there wasn't a lot of people and it was very calm and relaxing. I had a lot of fun. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in awhile. Then on Sunday, I was the only one at Tom's. I was very mad at everyone who didn't have a reason for not being there. But I remained undeterred in my goal to have fun. I played Galaxy Truckers for the first time. As the title suggests, you make spaceships and try and survive asteroids, epidemics, pirates, and war zones. Tom tried to give me an advantage of thirty extra dollars at the start, but in the end I didn't even need it. I made him drop out of the race two out of the three rounds, caused massive damage to two of his ships, and always finished second when I was building my ships. Then we played Caylus, and it was really close, who won depended on what the rules said for a lot of situations. It's much harder with only two people. After Tom won, we played the Confrontation, rock paper scissors Lord of the Rings Style, and I won that one. Then we finished with Times Square, which Tom one with lucky card drawing abilities.

The Ball

First, I saw The Wackness again with Kenny, Ben, and Justin. I think it was sadder the second time. Kenny and Justin were high for it, so they were having a great time. Then I went to this themed party at Kristina's house. It was a ball, but not really. We all just dressed in really nice outfits, and then listened to terrible music. Apparently they were supposed to ballroom dance during the first hour, but I arrived with Ben, Kristen, and Justin about an hour and a half after the party started. It was nice. I had a whole piece of cheesecake and Nick was all like, "You can't have a whole piece." But no one can expect me not to eat a whole piece of cheesecake if it's available (one of my food weaknesses, and on a side note, I'm weening myself off fast food french fries so I'm about to knock that off my list of weaknesses). It was a nice night. After that Ben, Kristen, Justin, Kenny, and I went to our friend Chris's house. Chris, Kenny, and Justin smoked some more and we watched recorded Family Guy episodes. Ben took Kristen home, and then eventually Ben and I left. I watched a show after almost falling asleep on my couch, and then fell asleep listening to Ingrid Michaelson.