A wow, I had no idea head transplant technology was that advanced!
(I kid, of course)
You’d be surprised.
And to think Ray Milland won an Academy Award.
Well, we played last night.
It went swimmingly. Each player surprised me with a ‘character voice’ that they’d all been practicing. Of course, they strayed from what I’d prepared, as D&D groups are built to do. So I spent four hours improvising, and none of them seemed to notice.
I did eventually steer them in the right place to start the ‘main’ story beats, at the very end, so I don’t have to prepare anything for next week.
Every single one of the six of them said something to the effect of ‘that was awesome’ and ‘I can’t wait until next week’.
So, I am more than satisfied. It was a blast.
Very cool, congrats!
That’s great! I love it when a game comes together.
So I went and toured the boat club facilities here yesterday and ended up taking the plunge. (It helped that the sales guy gave me a $1000 discount on the membership for being a vet and signing up that day.) I’ve got an on-water training scheduled for Tuesday (which should be pretty pro-forma, since I’m pretty confident on the water), and then I can start reserving boats. The club’s fleet is gorgeous: all less than 5 years old, ranging from 18’ bowriders to pontoon boats with waterslides on the roof to 30’ fishing boats with a pilot house. I can take them off-shore out to Catalina or down to Mexico or just troll around in the bays (Mission and San Diego) or up and down the coast. It’s a chunk of change, but I’m pretty excited about it.
Awesome!!! Congrats, Matt. Pay a lot of attention to that on-water training, especially any navigation, docking, maneuvering stuff if you aren’t a previous boater. And if they don’t cover it well, ask if they offer any classes, especially on the navigation piece. Along the shore should be easier than a lake in that regard but things look really different on the water looking back.
And take advantage of it if possible. Evening getaways of 1-3 hours are still getaways. We sometimes grab a meal and some beverages and head out just to catch a bit of sunset. It’s beautiful.
I’m interested in hearing how far out you get as well. Being only lake bound, I would love to know what going far enough out to not see anything might be like. Also, I can’t imagine an 18’ going out far. I’d be quite skeered.
EDIT: Which club did you end up with? Freedom?
Yep, Freedom. The availability of chapters nationwide is a big selling point. I can drive up to Huntington Beach or LA and check out boats there for trips to Catalina or maybe even the Channel Islands. And I go to Florida semi-regularly. There are like 1000 chapters in Florida. San Diego’s has grown from nothing 5 years ago, to a fleet of 33 now, projected to be 50 before the end of next year. I’d be willing to bet there’ll be a few more chapters that pop up in So-Cal.
The smaller bowriders, wake boats and pontoon boats aren’t allowed to leave the bays. All of the off-shore boats have VHF antennas and GPS, and you can’t take them offshore without additional training, nor when there’s a small craft advisory.
Yep, no excuse not to. One of the docks is literally 5 minutes from where I pick up my kids from school and on the way home from work. Easy to just pack a picnic, pop in and take one out for an evening on the bay.
Will do, and thanks for the tips. I find I have an uncanny sense of direction on the water, and I’m a former Navy guy. But an uncanny sense of direction can lead to false confidence. And running the bridge of an aircraft carrier with a full navigation suite, team of quartermasters, and professional pilots with tugs for harbor approaches isn’t nearly the same as piloting a small boat.
This was Friday on the lake. So nice out, the water was so calm.
I served in the Navy as well! Fortunately for the Navy, they kept me away from the bridge. :)
What’s crazy about this pic is that looking at the far side of the channel on the lake, it looks nice, easy and straight. This is what was hard for me, unless you actually go through every cove and inlet, you’d not know this is what this pic is showing a view of on the far side, using the arrows as a reference from where we were.:
I was really grateful they had classes. They have a couple that are pay classes I’d still like to take, the one on sailing as an example.
EDIT: I forgot to mention Freedom is the competitive club just around the corner from the one I joined. I have several friends that are members. Like yours, they are expanding very rapidly.
OK, I realize this is stretching the definition of interesting, very likely, but I found it simultaneously cute and funny, so I figured I’d share. Now my four-year-old daughter is a big superhero person for whatever reason, especially Spiderman and Batman. Tonight I was reading her to sleep with a big book of Batman stuff, like an encyclopedia of Batman, and we were going through his rogue’s gallery. I turned the page to Two-Face, and she looked at me and whispered, “Daddy, that’s Toothpaste!”
Four years old, and you’re traumatizing her with Batman?!?
Very cool.
Also, cute story. :)
I let her choose her good night stories! Some nights it’s My Little Pony, or Dora the Explorer, or Cinderella. But some nights, it’s how Batman prowls the night keeping the streets of Gotham clear of predators.
I totally approve.
And I love the idea of “Batman vs. Toothpaste”.
Worth watching for the (frankly amazing) narration by two little kids:
You should check out the Princess in Black series, which is kinda Sofia the First plus Zorro, with monsters. They’re chapter books, but very short, digestible bedtime story length ones.
Sometimes I’m like, “hey, I wonder what it would feel like if Ramsey Bolton went ham on my foot for a couple days” but then I remember “no worries, there is always a more intense gout flare to experience!”
Hoooooly shit. This is worse from a strict pain perspective right now than recovering from extremely invasive sinus surgery for which I was prescribed all the drugs.
I have a straight up tension headache from this shit, and my calf muscles on that leg are pretty much locked up through no conscious command of my own.
6/10, would only recommend to true genre stalwarts.
Just dropped off my wife at the airport, so it’s a few days of single parenthood for me. Should be interesting! I mean awesome!
Oh yeah, been there. My doctor recommended quinine in the form of tonic water. I can’t stand the taste, but it’s not that bad ice cold.