And we're back....

I have been both busy and tired. I think they kinda went hand in hand...so it all works out in the end. Highlights of the past couple weeks include:
- Our April 1, mini-con. That was good times. We had Dogs in the Vineyard, Polaris, Mountain WItch, Fudge (my favorite game), Unknown Armies, and more all take off without a hitch. 15 role-playing games, and 55 players. We are doing it again on July 15th due to the overwhelmingly positive response. I want to thank our partners at RPG.net for driving a bunch of new people in the store.
- Playing lot's of Pirates. OK, I am hooked. I really, really enjoy this game. I doubted I would right up to the release of South China seas...and them, WHAM! Hooked me with the Junks. There is now no turning back. Sigh...a money sink from hades. Ah well.
- Starships! Speaking of money sinks, I have been buying fleets of starship minis to run through Starmada X. I am, and have always been a starship nerd. I have managed to find out many of my friends are also starship nerds. If I have my way, I am going to try Federation Commander this weekend.
- El Guapo! I have picked up some minis for the Legends of the Old West game. I felt I REALLY needed some Mexican Banditos. The more humorous fact was that the best Mexican minis came from...England. Go figure. Those are on their way as we speak.

So, onto a larger subject. I have played with "experts" for a majority of my gaming career. What I mean by that is people who are _really_ into a game. Like crazy into it. Like wayyyyy more into it than I wanna be. So, when I play with them, it's generally not a great experience for any of us. I don't really care about rules other than what I need to know to get by, and really don't care about committing that sort of minutia to resident memory. (I need that room for more important things like door knob operation, toilet flushing, and walking up and down curbs successfully.) Out of no where, I have not only found a group of people really interested in a variety of games, but who are also not committed to any one of them. Having a group of dabblers is really heathy for me. I can really enjoy having a bunch of fun games in my repertoire, and not have to study them...I can just play. It's been very refreshing.

Along those same lines, I have really taken that concept of dabbling into my painting as well. I am not a great painter, but a serviceable one. I even had a mini show up in White Dwarf "in my yoof." That said, in all my years as a minis painter, I never really learned how to mass produce minis for "table-top" quality paint jobs. I would have to fiddle and futz with a mini until it was done to my perfectionist standards...and it left me staring down the barrel of endless painting queues. That lead me (lead me...rim-shot please) to really curtail my gaming, as I also didn't like playing with unpainted minis. (See the cycle of crazy?) That's all changing. I am really working on just painting, getting it done, and moving onto the next one. I will post some pics of my results of a test I am working through. Now that I posted this, it means I have to finish ;)

Anywho...I think really, thats about it for now...

Mood: The Dude is tired, and bewildered.