winterbadger | updating backwards

So, last evening the worthy

gr_c17 and I hung out. We played two games of Memoir '44 using the Eastern Front module. He hammered my panzers with Russian artillery in the Op Typhoon/Gates of Moscow scenario, then took apart my Finnish ski troops in the Suomussalmi scenario (I'm not allowed to make "schuss, schuss" noises for ski troops anymore...) We switched to Fjords, and he beat me in a very narrow game of that.

We waited a very long time for the pizzas I had ordered from z pizza to arrive; by the time we started getting peeved, they had already closed, so eventually I pulled out some odds and ends with which we staved off hunger. But I was still mad. Got even madder when I found out today that they got overwhelmed with orders, so they decided to just not fill them all *and* not call and tell people they weren't getting their orders. Fortunately B had brought some bottles of Mad Anthony's Ale which cooled our tempers.

We also had a good chin-wag about life. I'm very fortunate in my friends: so many of them are good at talking things through, understanding, and being supportive. Makes me feel less alone and frustrated.

Monday my buddy Frank and I played a couple of games of DBA on Monday night. We've started a blog to record our wargaming ~~disasters~~ exploits; it should have some battle reports soon. We also met an Irish guy (named Patrick--go figure) who has just moved to the area from Dublin, who was searching with his soon-to-be brother-in-law Lawrence for *any* historical gamers in the area. He's big into 25/28mm historical gaming, so we're hoping to hook up with him for some battles in the future.

I'm starting to do research for an article I hope will be published in the Christmas special put out by the Too Fat Lardies game company. I'm working on an article about using their 'Sharp Practice' skirmish game to play engagements from the French and Indian War. My plan is to have a short historical intro, some rules modifications, and a couple of scenarios.

Sunday morning I (assistant) refereed a CCSL soccer match in the morning and then watched

soccer_fox and her team squeak out a 3-2 victory over a very good Premier Division opponent Sunday evening.

Saturday, she and B and I went off to the Anne Arundel Highland Games on the spur of the moment, since that's when we learned about them! We had a pretty fun time: there were pipe bands, merchants (I don't think any of us bought anything other than food and drink), some Heelan' Cooos (so Herself was overjoyed) and Clydesdales, lots of clan tents, and some Highland games that we stopped to watch on the way out--some guys and one woman were putting the Weight Over the Bar really quite high (it's a four-stone weight, guys--56 pounds!) We missed the other heavy events, the dancing, and the dog trials (I was sorry about that--I always love sheepdogs!) But I think a good time was had by all, including N, who got to reprove a pushy child!

We went back to B's place, where he and I watched part of 'Breach' (I thought it was quite good) and most of 'First Knight' (*shudder*--it was just kind of one of those 'so bad it's almost funny' things--what a lot of good actors in what an awful film!) while N ~~slept~~ read one of B's history books.

Before that... most of the previous week was recovering from Operation Rapid Transit, which deserves an entry all its own. Maybe tomorrow, if I can get the photos uploaded...