I forgot to mention our tabletop misadventures for the week - on Tuesday, we discovered the one thing Earthdawn does really badly - mass combat. There aren't any mass combat rules which means when you have a hundred barbarians? Each acts individually. It was kind of painful (although luckily not literally so - everyone's character is still intact). Brief side note, while I'm too lazy to blather for a whole entry about how awesome Earthdawn is, if you like tabletop and high magic settings and don't mind a little bit of number-crunching, give it a try. It's got a wonderfully fleshed out world, and the mechanics are very solid. I know I talk about SR a lot (because I am cyberpunk's cheap whore), but mechanically, ED is waaay better.

And then last night's Mage game featured an Englishman (me) and a French-Canadian (Richard) posing first as paranormal investigators, and then as Jehovah's Witnesses. And then Nick and I did a highly unwise thing - we found the Hedge separating this part of our world from the faerie realm, and crossed it. We'll see how badly we get screwed over the fae, I guess.

Also, in SR news, Arsenal (the new gear book) is fucking awesome.

Aaron? You might want to stop reading now, if you want to retain your respect for me XD; (And Aaron, Julie, this post stays between us. I am not telling people at the club about this).

So. As some may have already guessed, I caved under peer pressure, and downloaded the free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft. My short opinion thus far? It's not that bad. I'm not sure I would pay money for it (or get other people to pay money for me), but it's not that bad. So I apologize for my incessant mocking of you guys that do play - I was wrong (I'm not sorry for mocking the people at the club who drink/eat/breathe WoW 24/7, though, because they're still annoying - thus why I'm not telling them).

Because it's only a ten day trial, I'm just kind of mucking around with shit and seeing what there is to do - I made a troll rogue on Blackhand (I default to rogue-types - I've played a DnD rogue, SW scoundrel, Earthdawn Illusionist, and a new WoD Acanthus enchanter thus far), and my only real thoughts on that is that the Valley of Trials looks a lot like Arizona. I also make a night elf hunter on Feathermoon, so I could play with Jon, who made a night elf priest at the same time. Far more lulz ensured, including:
-Level 1 duels: like slap-fights, but less amusing (I've seen two twenty year old guys have a slap fight. It was hilarious)
-Prettypuss versus ripheathldgr (who was naked)
-Killing boars and having Bambi just prance right on through the battle ('Oh, hi guys! It sure is a nice night out :D!')
-Female night elf strip-dancing on top a mushroom (Jon: "Okay, you go grab those petals, and...I'll be over here. Dancing on top of this mushroom;)
-Magical robe of cleavage - a V-neck that would have made Kanoe proud

Commence the mocking XD;

New blog layout - not my finest work, but I'm just happy to have something new and shiny up. I was originally going to port it to an LJ layout, too, but I started working on it and remember how much writing overrides suck, so yeah, not happening. Not much to say other than that. VNV Nation makes me happy. This is all.

New domain layout, long over due. New blog layout coming when I finish hemming and hawing over graphics details - I finally got the code to validate properly. Highlight of Tuesday night's SR game - the horror on our tech-geek player's face in response to '...WPA? What the hell is that?'. Highlight of Wednesday's Deadlands game - exploding rats (and the faeries did it, again). My Deadlands character is a cheerful blonde mad scientist/demolitions expert by the name of Melissa Bentley, who is kind of summed up by this XKCD comic.

In other news, 4chan has declared war on Scientology. Good luck, anonymous. I'm rooting for you (well, and I might put up some posters).

Part the first - Ally in a 40s cocktail dress, dress and pose shamelessly stolen from Rita Hayworth (I don't claim to be anything but a hack). This comes from our SR4 game - Ally got invited by her Matrix buddy Bogart to a Matrix club called Play it Again, Sam (seeing a theme here?), which turned out to have a dress code. So she let the bouncer change her icon to match, and this was the result.

Part the second - the funniest mental image generated in Earthdawn last night: Isak (think cleaner-cut Trent Reznor in his long-haired days) and Sphal (a seven-foot tall rock man) running around flapping big capes like wings and making bat-squeak noises. And thus we learn yet another reason nobody invites Nethermancers to parties.

-Classes : Psych is the same as last year, but with a hotter prof, Microbi is awesome, biochem is off to a slow start, and physical chem makes me want to claw my eyes out with boredom. We'll see how things progress.

-Gaming: I am seriously hooked on Shadowrun and Mage (theme for Mage - "I've Got a Theory", because it could be bunnies), curious as to what happens in Earthdawn, slowly getting fed up with Fireborn, and about to quit Star Wars. I haven't had much time for video gaming, although I did start a new FF6 game last week.

-TV: Watching Project Runway, looking forward to Torchwood S2 starting. I also have a huuuge pile of DVDs to watch - the Alien boxset, seasons one and five of the X-Files, all of Brisco County, Jr, and Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig. Unfortunately I don't have much time for watching TV either.

-Layouts: New domain layout is partially coded, new blog layout is in final stages of design. Dunno when they'll be up though.

I'm sitting next to a phone jack in the Chem building, and out of the four labels on the unit, only one still reads the jack label number. The other three, in order read 'Suck it Trebeck', 'Q-town what', and 'It's always raining in my mind'. Also, ten am on six hours of sleep is a lousy time to try and figure out the British education system - I'm trying to write up Julian's backstory, and his education doesn't really matter that much for this game, but I hate being wildly inaccurate about things I can find on Wikipedia.

A summary of the last week or so:

Air Canada finally got me my luggage back, intact; my bank sucks and still hasn't cleared the cash I deposited last Monday (which means I'm late on rent); had a very small but fun New Year's Eve gathering - a coupe friends, nachos, and video games; I made delicious spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms for dinner; I'm playing FF6 again - starting from the beginning, as I've forgotten all the plot; have a new layout for T-T.org almost finished; classes start up again tomorrow.

I'm pretty concerned about the bank issue - I deposited the cash along with a US cheque at an ATM, because the bank was closed early (three pm, what the hell?). I'm afraid they've decided to slap the cash with the fifteen-day hold they give the US cheques, which means I'm going to have to borrow money to pay this month's rent, and be broke for the next two weeks until it clears. Gah.

So I've been looking at 2008 con schedules, and I've come to the conclusion that life hates me. There are four cons I'd really like to go to this year - Norwescon, Sakuracon, Gencon, and Anime Evolution (Y-con is so up in the air, I'm not thinking about it right now). Norwescon is one weekend in March, Sakuracon is the next. Gencon is one weekend in August, AE is the next. The breakdown in terms of deciding factors goes something like this:

-Norwescon: On Easter weekend, so I have Friday and Monday off. Cheap hotel rates ($105 a night for a double), but it's at the airport, which means either paying more for the bus from Van, or attempting to navigate public transport from downtown Seattle to the con. I do really want to go to a sci-fi/fantasy con again, though.

-Sakuracon: Pricier hotel, would have to skip classes on Friday probably. More people I know going, though. Downtown = cheaper bus fare. Hard to justify going to Seattle two weekends in a row without my own car.

-Gencon: Most epic awesome gaming con ever. Unfortunately in Indiana, which means $300+ airfare, as it's a little too far for Epic Road Trip. Dunno what hotel prices are like yet. Someday?

-Anime Evolution: Probably the only 'for sure' con on this list, provided I ask for it off early enough (I forgot this year). I can commute, so it's like $35 plus whatever I feel like spending at the dealer's room.

AX I'm not interested enough in to justify the cost (if I had the money, I'd use it on Gencon >.>), Yaoicon...depends hugely on what my summer job is and how I feel about the fandom.

Adding to the ton of recap posts out there, as I do every year :D In 2007 I:
-Went clubbing
-Got totally wasted (just once!)
-Moved out on my own
-Acquired a boyfriend ♥
-Did a lot of tabletop RP
-Worked full-time (well, for the summer)

Resolutions for 2008:
-Get back in shape - I slacked off on working out over the summer, and have an extra twenty pounds to show for it.
-Get more creative stuff done - I did a little writing, but nothing on the graphic design or sewing front for most of the year