beach, repeatedly

[jazzfish]

I'm not sure where my days have gone. I almost feel like I'm hermiting again. I've had dinner with a few people, and I see uilos and the ABG folk on weekends. Other than that, I have almost no idea what I've been up to for the past month or more. Time to break out of that.

So: I spent the previous week in Kitty Hawk (or possibly Kill Devil Hill, but definitely north of Nags Head), mostly playing games and occasionally walking on the beach or hot-tubbing. I met some cool new people and played a few new games. Got to break out Carabande with the Action Set (including a ramp and a couple nasty chicanes), which is always good times. Played a lot of Race, of course. Also of note: Bananagrams, like Doublequick but better-quality tiles and no timer, and Aquaretto, a seriously brain-burning boardgame based on the draw-or-take mechanism in Coloretto.

Also wasted a day playing Advanced Civ. I'd played it once before, with Adam and Big Jay and others. I didn't much care for it then, but figured that might just be due to the experience. It wasn't. Ick. Twelve hours, of which maybe three were enjoyable. But now I know.

Had some delicious pad thai, and overly spicy peanut chicken (mmm), and made ziti as usual, and picked up a giftable hardback of The Dragon Waiting and a trade of Diamond Age (finally), and found a chunk of driftglass, and generally had a wonderfully laid-back week with uilos and others.

Keishi remains fairly skittish, but has calmed down somewhat. We've worked out a pretty good setup for the cage now: wheel and tube in one box, nest and house in the other, and food storage up in the loft. I dunno, maybe she keeps it up there so she won't forget where it is. She still sleeps an awful lot.

Been reading a lot more lately. Expect actual discussion of eBear's Promethean Age books and Justine Larbalestier's Magic Or Madness books soonish. (Short version: yum.)

And, thanks to the vagaries of scheduling, after three days at work (during which I've been, um, sort of useful, I guess) I'm heading off for a long weekend at Chincoteague with nixve.

Comments

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

You would enjoy the Fairfax Juggling Club. I can't go tonight, though.

[jazzfish]

I was kind of thinking that when you first mentioned it. I may check it out some week next month.

[(Anonymous)]

I got Aquaretto last week but I haven't had a chance to play it yet. I also picked up Airships and Eketorp. Unfortunately I'm not due for games for another couple of weeks (Memorial Day weekend was good for gaming -- I do need to blog that) but I'll be hitting them as soon as I can.

Glad you had a good week!

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

That was me...

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Aquaretto is a very different game from Zooloretto, just a fair warning. It's muchmuch harsher and you have to economize things much better than in Z. Your first game will be awful, but it'll get better after that (my experience learning and watching others learn).

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

That's actually really good to know as it makes me look forward to Aquaretto a lot more. Z is okay, but the board and zoo placement doesn't really do much for me as a complementary mechanic with the drawing, so something that's different and more "gamery" might just float my boat a little more than Z did.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, then I think you'll like A more. The placement issues are only the beginnings of your problems - there's so much more going on to keep track of. And the holding pool is harsh.

[jazzfish]

It's actually not /that/ harsh. It just feels that way when you watch things pile up and you can't get them out. Stupid polar bears.

Untrainable animals, on the other hand, are really annoying. Play with the training pens next time? (where a dude there makes each untrainable worth 2 points, plus points for a trainer)

[jazzfish]

I think you'll like it. It feels like there's a lot more game to A than to Z; Z felt to me like a longer version of Coloretto that didn't add anything but time. A gives you more tough choices and a bit more strategy with the keepers.