Earlier this year, I had an incredibly interesting and very memorable experience. My cousin invited me to the joint birthday celebration of his kids (four of them all happened to have birthdays that were all within 30 days of each other, what are the odds?) and since one of them was my godson, I made sure that I could go. The theme of the party was Star Wars and people were encouraged to come in Star Wars-themed outfits or maybe even in costume. Now I bought a Darth Vader costume from Amazon a while back so I thought that this party would be a perfect opportunity for me to use it. I arrived at the party a bit late but when I got there, apparently, I was the only one in costume. Everyone else just had Star Wars t-shirts on and/or they had light sabers. Because of that, my costume turned out to be a pretty big hit. So much so that a special intermission was suddenly added to the program so that each of the kids could have individual and group photos taken with me on stage. I am really pleased that I decided to wear a costume to that event because it seemed to make a lot many kids - and even their parents and guardians - just a bit happier that afternoon.
*****
I had a bit of a scare recently. I thought I lost my Oakley shades. They are normally just in the car but when I was looking for them one night to prepare for an out-of-town trip, I couldn't find them there. I've had these shades since maybe 2006 and I've used them a lot because I like the fit and the orange lenses make me look a bit more sporty and outdoorsy. I was really upset about losing them but I thought that they had served me very well for a decade and I have loads of pictures taken while wearing them. Just when I thought I would never see them again, one night, while I was fixing my room, I saw it at the bottom of a paper bag which had a lot of other random stuff in it. Whew! I used them immediately after I found them although I have noticed that the inside of the lenses have been scratched a whole lot. I am guessing this model is no longer available which is a shame because I really like them. But if I find I really good substitute, I may just retire these shades (or use them a whole lot less).
*****
Talk about a really belated Christmas reunion. My college groupmates and I weren't able to meet up last December due to conflicts in schedule. So when Anna said she would be coming home early in 2016 and she had a free night, we all met up at Estancia Mall in Capitol Commons. (I have now been to this mall a couple of times.) We had dinner at Spice and Cleaver (I love this place). We ordered really heavy food, including steak, various sausages, chicken, and mashed potatoes. It was a bit embarrassing though because we really ordered a lot of expensive items and as it turned out, Gary treated us all because his birthday was right around the corner. We told him that we should have dessert and then it would be our turn to treat him and his family. We moved to Craft Coffee where I had coffee (I was too full to have dessert). While all the adults were engaged in conversation, I actually ended up spending most of the night talking to Wacky, Gary and Winnie's son who was with us. Apparently, I am pretty decent and having long conversations with kids who don't really know me because I managed to keep Wacky entertained the entire evening.
*****
I got to play a couple of new games recently. I am very familiar with 7 Wonders, which is quite possibly my favorite tabletop game, but I had never played the expansion packs yet. My friend had the two sets - Leaders and Cities - and we got to try both that night. We first played the Leaders expansion pack and I won both times. When we moved to Cities, I ended up choosing a city that would probably have been very good to use in a multiple player set-up but as there were only three of us that night, it was almost like my advantage was negated and I got a very low score. Still, these expansion packs added a different dimension to 7 Wonders and they change the game play just enough to make things a bit more interesting.
I also got to play Stone Age. This is quite an easy game to learn. I won one of the two games we played, but I guess this was mainly because one of the players made a couple of strategic errors early in the game that allowed me to gain a strong early advantage. I have another game day planned soon and I am looking forward to it.
*****
I had a bit of a scare recently. I thought I lost my Oakley shades. They are normally just in the car but when I was looking for them one night to prepare for an out-of-town trip, I couldn't find them there. I've had these shades since maybe 2006 and I've used them a lot because I like the fit and the orange lenses make me look a bit more sporty and outdoorsy. I was really upset about losing them but I thought that they had served me very well for a decade and I have loads of pictures taken while wearing them. Just when I thought I would never see them again, one night, while I was fixing my room, I saw it at the bottom of a paper bag which had a lot of other random stuff in it. Whew! I used them immediately after I found them although I have noticed that the inside of the lenses have been scratched a whole lot. I am guessing this model is no longer available which is a shame because I really like them. But if I find I really good substitute, I may just retire these shades (or use them a whole lot less).
*****
Talk about a really belated Christmas reunion. My college groupmates and I weren't able to meet up last December due to conflicts in schedule. So when Anna said she would be coming home early in 2016 and she had a free night, we all met up at Estancia Mall in Capitol Commons. (I have now been to this mall a couple of times.) We had dinner at Spice and Cleaver (I love this place). We ordered really heavy food, including steak, various sausages, chicken, and mashed potatoes. It was a bit embarrassing though because we really ordered a lot of expensive items and as it turned out, Gary treated us all because his birthday was right around the corner. We told him that we should have dessert and then it would be our turn to treat him and his family. We moved to Craft Coffee where I had coffee (I was too full to have dessert). While all the adults were engaged in conversation, I actually ended up spending most of the night talking to Wacky, Gary and Winnie's son who was with us. Apparently, I am pretty decent and having long conversations with kids who don't really know me because I managed to keep Wacky entertained the entire evening.
*****
I got to play a couple of new games recently. I am very familiar with 7 Wonders, which is quite possibly my favorite tabletop game, but I had never played the expansion packs yet. My friend had the two sets - Leaders and Cities - and we got to try both that night. We first played the Leaders expansion pack and I won both times. When we moved to Cities, I ended up choosing a city that would probably have been very good to use in a multiple player set-up but as there were only three of us that night, it was almost like my advantage was negated and I got a very low score. Still, these expansion packs added a different dimension to 7 Wonders and they change the game play just enough to make things a bit more interesting.
I also got to play Stone Age. This is quite an easy game to learn. I won one of the two games we played, but I guess this was mainly because one of the players made a couple of strategic errors early in the game that allowed me to gain a strong early advantage. I have another game day planned soon and I am looking forward to it.
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