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So IJdo and I went to the UK for Pubcon, a one day gaming convention organized in Southampton. Originally it was supposed to be the entire Dutch Invader crew, but Wendy and Arno couldn’t come along because of Arno’s health. That was a bummer of epic proportions. It wasn’t even entirely sure I could make it myself, as I was sick the week before. It sucked, and it made the flight even worse than it would’ve been if I was healthy.

Still, we arrived in Southampton in one piece, met up with Mick and Mike (who did look a little familiar) and together we drove back to Portsmouth. I managed to kill Mike’s car on the way there. Congestor’s power grows with every passing day. Fear me!

Or, you know, pity me, because I’m in every traffic jam I cause :p

Anyway, we got to the Duke of Buckingham, only to find out that our room wasn’t ready yet. So instead we wandered around Portsmouth, saw loads of cool stuff, and went on what was dubbed a ‘Fanny Boat’. However, despite promises from Mick, we weren’t mooned by the local navy folk. Probably because it was family day, and every Navy dude present had a mom or a grandmother present.I wasn’t horribly disappointed though.

Being a weak and frail Dutchie, I went for a nap before we headed out to get something to eat, and then moved on to the Deco, which is a rather punky place where the Pompey Crew usually games. The Pompey social was awesome.

Wait, let me correct that: The Pompey crew and visitors are awesome. There’s really not enough space on this blog to do everyone justice.  They’re such a tight knit group of people, and yet at the same time I felt completely welcome. So props to the crew, for welcoming the Dutch Invaders in style. Hilarious high point of the evening: Meeting Mike again, and finding him terribly familiar. “Didn’t I meet you at Conception?’ “No, you met me this morning.” “Ah, right.”

Epic failure, right there.

Unfortunately IJdo and I had to toddle off rather early because I was pretty wrecked still, but that just meant we were bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning, also known as Pubcon morning! Fortunately the train ride wasn’t too bad, and for once my congestor powers failed me, as the train actually made it to Southampton on time.  Despite attempts from Rich Stokes to lead us down a road that would’ve meant a 5 mile detour, we managed to make it to the pub on time. A little early, even. And as it turned out, attendance was a little better than expected.

I’ve been told that the initial prognosis was that 12 people would show up. In the end there were about 35. I’d planned on running Jaws of the Six Serpents only once, but I ended up running it twice because there just weren’t enough games for everyone otherwise. And it was fun to run, and I think people really enjoyed it too, so… eh. Everyone wins. While both the games I ran were great, the first one was the stuff of legends. The plot went out the window about 20 seconds into the game, and I pretty much improvised the entire game. It was great. The entire party either got killed off or turned evil, so…

Yup. Epic. Also surprisingly the easiest game I’ve ever run, despite the 6 million curve balls that were thrown my way. The game just flowed well. I think it was well received too, which is always good. I was a little bummed that I missed out on playing Beat to Quarters or Dread Jenga, but Indiecon will just have to make up for that.

We were pretty knackered afterward, and slept like a baby that night. The pub was pretty decent, by the way. Well, the B&B section anyway.

After a lie in on Sunday morning Mick picked us up and took us to the Deco again after a traditional English breakfast. Urp… At least it was a good foundation for gaming, which was much needed as Indie Rich introduced us to Dogs in the Vineyard. Which is so awesome it deserves a blog post of its own.

The only bummer of the weekend happened Sunday evening, when a certain team lost to a certain other team in a certain world cup and I still don’t want to talk about it. Ugh.

Well, I suppose that wasn’t the only bummer. After a trip to the submarine museum on Monday, which was surprisingly awesome, we had to head back to the Southampton airport.

And that was decidedly meh. I so wasn’t ready to leave yet. At the same time it just gives us a good reason to visit again.

All in all the weekend was a huge success. Mick wins at life for taking us on tow the entire weekend, and the Pompey crew wins for being genuinely cool. Also, massive props to Bas for driving us back to the airport despite my congestor skills, and for keeping me from punching a Spanish chick in the face. Still, in the end the true winners of this expedition are the Dutch Invaders, who didn’t just lay the groundwork for yet another invasion, but also managed to get their gaming groove on.

Is it November yet?

The password = my name.

I got a new job It’s quite a shiny thing, this job, and I spent the past few weeks feeling quite nervous about getting it or not. Hell, I was a nervous wreck. But that’s all cool now. Because I got the job

So, what does this mean?

- I can move out of my parent’s place. Yay!

- I can go to Graspop

- I can go to the UK in July for Stokecon

- I can go to the UK in November for Indiecon

- That thing about moving out of my parent’s place? Awesome

- Maybe I can buy my own car. That would be pretty sweet too.

But most of all I can do something that’s actually intellectually stimulating. And that’s something that I’ve been yearning for since I started my current job.

I got the job

Yesterday I ran a game for the first time. It was not a complete disaster Full report will follow later, just wanted to jot a few things down before I forget them:

• All in all: good show. Pacing was excellent, much enjoyment was had by all.
• I need to review the characters. Zina didn’t work, Laughing Whale, Rosheen and Chander need tweaking.
• I also need to take more time to explain the characters and the setting and the system. I can’t assume that things will be obvious to the players just because they’re obvious to me.
• Scenario needs tweaking. I had to pull way more stuff out of my arse than I would have liked, and that was without the plot getting derailed.
• I need to review the bad guys and their motivation.
• Also, backstory. There needs to be more of it.

My sentiments after the game: Holy shit, this stuff is exhausting. I was wrecked after 4.5 hours. It was nerve wracking and hard to keep track of everything, but all in all I had a great time, and so did all of the players. Yay.

Tomorrow I’m playtesting my first ever roleplay scenario with two experienced roleplayers, and 3 inexperienced roleplayers. It’ll either suck, be awesome, or be meh.

And you know what? I’m really freaking nervous. What’s up with that? It’s just a game, silly. No presentation, no job interview, no exam. I know this, but nevertheless I feel like I don’t have the dice to back this up. Stupid fucking failure anxiety thing. Well, at least it proves that ye olde ‘once you know what it is it’ll be over’ statement is false. Again. As if that ever needed any further confirmation…

Don’t get me wrong though. While I’m a little scared and a little nervous, I also think it’s freaking awesome that I’m going to run a scenario that I came up with. Time to bring the awesome…

But first, sleep. And then sauna. And then we’ll see about those dice.

The sleep situation is starting to worry me. The fact that I’m a light sleeper is common knowledge by now, but I feel like I’ve barely had more than one good nights rest since January. Which is ridiculous. It’s fucking annoying that I have to plan 8 hours of ‘lay in bed’-time just to get a bare minimum amount of sleep.

Actually… I had a rant in mind about not being able to sleep, but I forgot what I was going to write. That’s the most annoying part about this while sleeplessness thing. I forget stuff. Names. Things I need to do.

I would just very much like to have my brain back.

Didn’t get much brainstorming for Indiecon and other games done this weekend, unfortunately. On one hand that’s ok because I haven’t even managed to finish the entire troupe of badguys yet, but on the other hand I would’ve liked to playtest it a little at least.

Ah well… I’ll get to playtest it on the 13th, so that’s all good.

No real news on the job front yet, other than the fact that the psychobitch is still a psychotic bitch. At least my supervisor now knows that I’m looking for something else, and he wasn’t entirely opposed to it. As in, he doesn’t like it, but he understands it.

To be honest I’m sort of glad that I’m leaving because of the lack of graduation project and contract, instead of because of the bitch. I keep telling myself that there’s no way in hell she would’ve gotten me to leave, but I’m not so sure. What it comes down to is that my patience was wearing thing, and I’m not sure if I would’ve lasted that much longer without knowing that the end of my employment there is in sight. Now that it is, it’s so much easier to deal with her. But it is still ‘dealing with’ her, instead of working with her.

Ugh.

I really hope that I’ll find someone else soon. I said I’d stick around til Easter at least. Hrrm. We’ll see about that.

Guess what? This whole ‘temp job with options for further employment’? Has no further options. No space or time available for me to do my graduation project. Chances of me getting a fulltime contract any time soon? slim to none. No, wait, let’s make that none.

So now I’m pissed off, because they lead me on for months. I spent months dealing with that cunt colleague. Months working my ass off, convinced that I’d get that fulltime contract at least.

So… Fuck off. I’m definitely out now.

Something cool: Dailymugshot

Other than that, it feels like I’ve reached some kind of breakthrough with my heinous bitch colleague. Not that she’s less of a bitch, but maybe I’m just getting better at ignoring her. Either way, it is time for things to chance. Didn’t get a chance to talk to the dude I need to talk to about a graduation project or a 40 hour contract because he was in meetings all day. What else is new… it’s a drag.