By Duncan on 29 May 2007 12:06

Recently we've had a spate of playing games left untouched for years. Yesterday I played Seafarers of Catan for the first time in over five years, and we've had a few games of Magic: The Gathering with old decks not used for a long time. Some people have never encountered these or other games we've grown tired of.

I can see us trying out more old classics left lying around or receiving new editions, such as Talisman, Super Giant Monster Showdown, Cyberpunk or Legend of the Five Rings.

It's nice to revisit them, but I wouldn't want to play them all the time.

By Duncan on 26 May 2007 15:27

We started a new monthly board games session at my local game shop, and although numbers were low, we got the game off the ground.

The idea is to focus on "Proper" games for this monthly meet. Not the really short or simple games, but the strategic ones which take at least an hour. Considering we were sharing with wargamers, had a group who were distracted by cards, had more distractions from family and non-gaming friends, and lacking people from the Bank Holiday, we actually got some fairly decent games in. Although we didn't get to play the Buffy board game.

Next step is next month.

By Duncan on 24 May 2007 09:08

After the demise of my last character in our Wednesday gaming group, the site is now home to another Story Hour. "Kay" is a cousin of my last character, and her tale begins here.

 

By Duncan on 21 May 2007 12:21

Most weeks, on a Sunday evening, a group of us descends on one of our local pubs to try our skill and luck on the pub quiz machine. Between us, we actually have a fair range of quiz knowledge (except for me, my trivia is poor at best, except for the odd random question) so we do quite well on the question games, such as Bullseye, Who Wants, to be a Millionaire and the like. We also win fairly often on the Nuts Quiz Game, my friends' favourite by quite some way.

My strongest skill is the word games, having played years of Scrabble against my mum, aunts, sisters and great aunt. Sadly the only game available the last few times has been Word Up, which while quite good hasn't actually been working. This is greatly annoying, when you put in a quid and find you are limited to Hex Appeal or several games others will happily play to pay anyway.

Maybe its time to change pubs or write an angry letter :)

By Duncan on 17 May 2007 09:42

And we take a step backwards. Looks like my email updates are having problems. Don't appear to be getting them from my own site, or sending them out to users. Will fiddle with the email settings later to see if anything changes.

Stupid technology.

By Duncan on 16 May 2007 12:11

My haphazard cooking education continues, as I work my way through a seasonal cookbook. People like to consume soup in spring, apparently. My third soup was a collection of all the veg in my fridge, plus some from the freezer, and I think it tastes fine.

Sadly, I am not a good judge of quality food (especially my own cooking), as I will happily consume most food (except perhaps pineapple, which is evil). Therefore I need to work out a way of forcing my end products on forgiving friends.

By Duncan on 14 May 2007 10:16

Another good Eurovision evening. Although the spectacles didn't live up to the standard of last year's exceptional event, the sword-dancers, Ukraine entry, random bus-stop and frenchmen running on the spot still had us laughing. We had a feast of food from different nations, and although my Finnish rice-pasties weren't a great success it was a fun gathering.

But the Ukraine were robbed.

Possibly influenced by my bet on them, they were by far the most entertaining (although possibly not the musically greatest) act of the evening. We were all surprised by the support that the winners Serbia gained, and in my ratings of the acts had only given them 3 and a half out of 10. We also felt sorry for Scooch, who had a sterling effort and a classically cheesy Eurovision song ignored to recieve only 22nd place, joint with the french.

As always, looking forward to next year's antics .

By Duncan on 12 May 2007 09:53

Tonight is the occasion of the most important event of the year, Eurovision. I am having a small gathering of 'Vision fans tonight,  with us all bringing a food dish from one of the participating countries. As host I am going for some pasties from Finland.

My money has been placed on the Ukraine, who have unfortunately now become runaway favourites. I always think this is a bad thing, so placed a back-up bet of Turkey, who look to have a strong entry this year. They had great odds, but I suspect they won't be winning it.

Lots of my friends seem to look down on Eurovision, surprised or astonished that people would spend their whole night watching the live comedy act. But this evening will be one of outrageous costumes, camp songs and bizarre gimmicks trying to attract our attention.

By Duncan on 11 May 2007 08:02

Spiderman 3 came out last weekend, so having waited for the rush to die down, I went to see it last night. Although not as good as the second one, it kept the action flowing, with multiple plot-threads and tied up a few loose ends from the first two films. The number of villains did seem a stretch in this one, and none of the matched up to Dr Octopus from the second film. I enjoyed it and expect number 4 will be along in a couple of years time.

There were also trailers for several films that looked good. Transformers, Pirates of the Carribean 3 and maybe Shrek 3, depending on my mood at the time. With two cinemas within 5 minutes of me, I have few excuses for not seeing more films.

By Duncan on 10 May 2007 09:21

Last night I returned to my parents for a farewell meal for my brother. He's decided to go travelling and working in Australia before he turns 30, visiting parts of South America on the way. Most of his stuff he's sold on Ebay, taking only clothes and his i-pod with him to the land of kangaroos. There's a good chance he will end up living out there, assuming job opportunities go his way.

For my family its the end of an era, as it was probably the last large gathering of our immediate family at the place we all grew up. This year will be the first time I need to think about where I want to spend Christmas instead of going home, as my siblings and parents finally settle from the place we all used to call home, moving on with their families or their own plans.

It made me look at my own plans once again, thinking about career, friends and opportunities. Exeter has been my happy home for over 10 years, and will likely continue to be for a long time. I have great friends here, and really enjoy my gaming...

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