A really, really beautiful night.
Jun. 3rd, 2006 06:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksTonight was so incredibly awesome.
Officially, Laurel holds the title of "My Only Friend in Monterey," but this is really something of a misnomer. And I think it always has been; I could be wrong, but the dates can also be verified. It was at the Prerelease of Ravnica, unless I miss my guess, roughly Nine Months ago.
I had gotten Steve to drive me up to San Jose, because that's where the Prerelease was. (For the Uninitiated, a Prerelease is a big tournament for Magic: The Gathering which they have for every new set, roughly two weeks before the set is available for purchase. It's a lot of fun because it's fairly casual, it's a new set, and if you're good enough you can win lots of cards before you could even buy them. i've been to nearly a half dozen or so, now, and I love them.) On our way in, we ran into a group of guys also headed in the same direction, who over-heard that Steve and I were from Monterey. They, too, were from Monterey, and were part of a group that met at a local cardstore weekly to play Drafts and such. We hung out with them for most of the tourney, and they taught Steve to play, as he was new. They also gave me the name and general location of the shop, and what time they meet at. One in this group was Ben, a very cool Army guy who knows his stuff.
Fast forward a little bit, Ben and I get along great, I go to the shop regularly for three or four months, get to know the guys and all that. Aside from Ben, there's Brian, Nathan, Haven, Brent, Darren, Tom, Chris, and some dozen others or so who show up occasionally. I get along really great with Ben, Brian, and Haven, and go to a number of tournaments with Ben, Darren, and Nathan. These guys count as friends, but the level of friend you have with a team-mate on the soccer team, or someone you meet for tennis. We share a hobby, and that's generally all that ever gets us together. Which is kind of sad, in a way, because I really like these guys, and as many of you know it's rare for me to have many guy friends.
I was away from the shop for a month or two when classes got crazy, and only recently got back in there. And it was great to go back. It was good seeing the guys, and playing the game again, and just good stuff. This cardshop is everything the one I had in Maryland (Zach remembers it as "La Plata," my brothers know it as Comics MD) wishes it was. Yeah, we have a few jerks, but they're generally the ones who don't know the game all that well, so they play a few rounds and then leave. By the time the night is over, it's usually just the Good Fellas.
Tonight very well might have been my last night in the shop for a very long time; if I get my internship, I likely won't be back there for gaming until 2007 (save maybe once more before I leave, depending on how flight plans go). I played the draft, got a decent deck but it had some technical difficulties that made placing very high rather unlikely. I ended the night with a 2 wins and 2 losses, which isn't too bad, and I stuck around to watch Ben and Nathan play out there final match. Ben and Nathan are almost always 1st and 2nd place. Actually, I stuck around also because Ben bought a board game and wanted to try it out -- he's going to be leaving soonishly himself, and as the prize for winning drafts is store credit, he's got *a lot* of it. Haven stayed, too, and he and I and another guy played a 3-player game while we waited for Ben.
(The three player game was awesome, with The Guy -- I can't remember his name -- starting strong, and then me breaking ahead, and finally ending with Haven on top).
After Ben lost to Nathan, he, Haven, The Guy, and I went to Denny's, bought some coffee and drinks, and played the game. Ben had picked up a board game called "The Legend of Beowulf" or something which was made by some famous game designer of sorts. We set it up, he ran through the rules, and we got going. It was a really awesome game, lots of fun (Haven won that, too, but it came out of left field), and I have every intention of buying a copy for myself. We cleaned up, left a nice tip for our server, and then wen outside to talk at great length. I can't ever recall what we talked about; lots of joking, lots of laughing, something about babies (The Guy was married with kids), and eventually got around to talking about the upcoming game "Spore" (which I've found is actually a *whole* lot cooler than just "SimEarth that doesn't suck). The Draft ended at about 12:30, and we played Beowulf for several hours, so by the time we'd finished talking and got on our way, it was after 4:30. I didn't get back to my place until after 5:00, and had decided already that I wasn't going to sleep, as I'm supposed to leave here at about 7:30 or so to help Laurel with a garage sale.
But the night was fantastic. The gaming, the sitting in Denny's at all hours of the night talking and laughing, and just having a really good time with some really cool guys -- this is the sort of night where I just step back, look around, and say, "yeah, this is a pretty awesome time to be me." It's the sort of thing that people think of when they talk about "The Good Old Day." It was magnificent.
Now, to get a quick shower and change before my ride gets here. I'm gonna crash early t'night, I can tell already.
Officially, Laurel holds the title of "My Only Friend in Monterey," but this is really something of a misnomer. And I think it always has been; I could be wrong, but the dates can also be verified. It was at the Prerelease of Ravnica, unless I miss my guess, roughly Nine Months ago.
I had gotten Steve to drive me up to San Jose, because that's where the Prerelease was. (For the Uninitiated, a Prerelease is a big tournament for Magic: The Gathering which they have for every new set, roughly two weeks before the set is available for purchase. It's a lot of fun because it's fairly casual, it's a new set, and if you're good enough you can win lots of cards before you could even buy them. i've been to nearly a half dozen or so, now, and I love them.) On our way in, we ran into a group of guys also headed in the same direction, who over-heard that Steve and I were from Monterey. They, too, were from Monterey, and were part of a group that met at a local cardstore weekly to play Drafts and such. We hung out with them for most of the tourney, and they taught Steve to play, as he was new. They also gave me the name and general location of the shop, and what time they meet at. One in this group was Ben, a very cool Army guy who knows his stuff.
Fast forward a little bit, Ben and I get along great, I go to the shop regularly for three or four months, get to know the guys and all that. Aside from Ben, there's Brian, Nathan, Haven, Brent, Darren, Tom, Chris, and some dozen others or so who show up occasionally. I get along really great with Ben, Brian, and Haven, and go to a number of tournaments with Ben, Darren, and Nathan. These guys count as friends, but the level of friend you have with a team-mate on the soccer team, or someone you meet for tennis. We share a hobby, and that's generally all that ever gets us together. Which is kind of sad, in a way, because I really like these guys, and as many of you know it's rare for me to have many guy friends.
I was away from the shop for a month or two when classes got crazy, and only recently got back in there. And it was great to go back. It was good seeing the guys, and playing the game again, and just good stuff. This cardshop is everything the one I had in Maryland (Zach remembers it as "La Plata," my brothers know it as Comics MD) wishes it was. Yeah, we have a few jerks, but they're generally the ones who don't know the game all that well, so they play a few rounds and then leave. By the time the night is over, it's usually just the Good Fellas.
Tonight very well might have been my last night in the shop for a very long time; if I get my internship, I likely won't be back there for gaming until 2007 (save maybe once more before I leave, depending on how flight plans go). I played the draft, got a decent deck but it had some technical difficulties that made placing very high rather unlikely. I ended the night with a 2 wins and 2 losses, which isn't too bad, and I stuck around to watch Ben and Nathan play out there final match. Ben and Nathan are almost always 1st and 2nd place. Actually, I stuck around also because Ben bought a board game and wanted to try it out -- he's going to be leaving soonishly himself, and as the prize for winning drafts is store credit, he's got *a lot* of it. Haven stayed, too, and he and I and another guy played a 3-player game while we waited for Ben.
(The three player game was awesome, with The Guy -- I can't remember his name -- starting strong, and then me breaking ahead, and finally ending with Haven on top).
After Ben lost to Nathan, he, Haven, The Guy, and I went to Denny's, bought some coffee and drinks, and played the game. Ben had picked up a board game called "The Legend of Beowulf" or something which was made by some famous game designer of sorts. We set it up, he ran through the rules, and we got going. It was a really awesome game, lots of fun (Haven won that, too, but it came out of left field), and I have every intention of buying a copy for myself. We cleaned up, left a nice tip for our server, and then wen outside to talk at great length. I can't ever recall what we talked about; lots of joking, lots of laughing, something about babies (The Guy was married with kids), and eventually got around to talking about the upcoming game "Spore" (which I've found is actually a *whole* lot cooler than just "SimEarth that doesn't suck). The Draft ended at about 12:30, and we played Beowulf for several hours, so by the time we'd finished talking and got on our way, it was after 4:30. I didn't get back to my place until after 5:00, and had decided already that I wasn't going to sleep, as I'm supposed to leave here at about 7:30 or so to help Laurel with a garage sale.
But the night was fantastic. The gaming, the sitting in Denny's at all hours of the night talking and laughing, and just having a really good time with some really cool guys -- this is the sort of night where I just step back, look around, and say, "yeah, this is a pretty awesome time to be me." It's the sort of thing that people think of when they talk about "The Good Old Day." It was magnificent.
Now, to get a quick shower and change before my ride gets here. I'm gonna crash early t'night, I can tell already.
