He Missed A Day!

After maintaining a steady stream of posts for almost the entire first week of my blog, I missed posting yesterday. It most assuredly won't be the last time. :-) Sometimes, it'll be because I simply have nothing to talk about. This time, it was because there was a lot going on in the last 36 hours or so. Here's the breakdown:

Thursday night is "bar trivia" night for me. A group of us, typically ranging between three to eight people, go to the local Hooters for 21 questions on random stuff. No cell phone calls allowed, but the top three teams get money taken off their bills. It's a fun way to spend a couple hours. And I know there are a lot of trivia lovers out there reading this who will agree. We usually place "in the money." Regardless, I always learn at least one fun and completely random factoid every week.

This week, unfortunately, we had a very strong first two rounds but totally blew it in the final round. We didn't even place. But as always, there was a fun random factoid to be picked up. What American Civil War general was known for the group of women that followed his soldiers around from place to place to provide "entertainment?" Why, that would be General Hooker. Yes, that's where the word comes from.

Friday night was the theater. There are two stage managers in my circle of friends. One of them lives in Chicago (for the moment), so unfortunately it's not so easy for me to just go out and see her shows. The other is right here in Denver, though, and last night was the first time I'd been able to go in a long, long time. In fact, the theater scene being what it is in Norfolk/VA Beach, I believe I've only been to maybe four plays in the last five years -- a near-tragic development.

This was a fun little production in a small theater that didn't even exist when last I lived here. It was an original piece titled "Kill the Moment," a sort of a murder/revenge plot featuring four actors in a series of about five or six plot/role reversals. Yes, the ripple effects of The Sixth Sense are still being felt. Actually, the play had much more to praise about it than not. It was a fun time. But the script was newly written, and probably could have been much improved by some editing and re-writing. And I think the actors could have used a little more rehearsal time. They had moments where they were connecting very strongly to the words, but also a few moments where it felt to me like they were really "out of the moment" and just reciting the dialogue. But like I said, much more good than bad.

And of course, there was the set. My stage managing friend also designed and built the set, roping in a couple others in the circle of friends to help. (Like she always does. Most have learned this, and avoid her at appropriate times. ;-) ) It was the interior of a log cabin in some mountain area, and was actually quite impressive. Fireplace and everything. (Not a working one, but a convincing-looking one.) It was quite honestly a lot more set that one usually expects or gets in a theater this size. For those who have only gone to the theater to see, say, the big touring Brodway productions, this theater had seating for about 55 or so.

After the show, we squeezed in a couple of late night board games, including Robo Rally -- the first time I've played it in many, many years. Having fun with that game is all about how you set up the boards, how many checkpoints there are, etc. Sometimes, it's loads of fun. Sometimes, it's an eternity in hell. This time, I'm pleased to say, was the former.

We played with an optional rule we picked up somewhere that's designed to combat the problem where one player gets out ahead of the pack and then stays ahead because no other bots are around to mess up their movement plans. You play with each checkpoint having a "four point shield" around it that acts like a wall on all four sides, preventing access to the space until robot laser shots have taken out the shield. And this "catch-up factor" rule worked like a charm last night. I got in my opening hand the Option card that allows you to make a single 8-space flying jump across the board, which put me well ahead of the group. But the checkpoint was awkwardly placed near a conveyer belt, and by the time I'd taken out the shields, two other players were in the hunt. I ended up taking enough damage that it was one of those other two who went on to win the game. (We played only two checkpoints. That's another secret of having fun playing Robo Rally. You're just asking for it if you play more than about two boards and two checkpoints. Unless you really, really like Robo Rally and want to play it for like 4 hours, that is.)

Anyway, lots of fun over the last couple nights. But it has caused me to fall totally behind in my normal TV viewing. So guess what I'll probably be doing most of this afternoon? Thank you TiVo!