Monday, July 6, 2015

A Dependent Weekend

Independence Day weekend should have been a bit more laid back (and recreationally productive) but I'll take what I can get.

I had to work Friday, thanks to a government decree that none of our competitors were subject to. I won't argue with time-and-a-half plus an extra floating holiday.

I did get some free time after work and I swung over to the FLGS.    The place is getting a little better organized, even if they are stocking more and more Infinity.  The $95 boxed set of nothing was strange.  Seeing the individual blisters of minis for $13+   a pack for a single, misproportioned figure sent me reeling.

I was resigned to snag up a few nostalgic Magic cards to provide my monthly donation, but I spied these lovable scamps hiding on the same racks as flocking and battlecards.

Metal GW figures?  In a blister?  And the best part, for under FOUR DOLLARS a mini?   The past version of me is crying about the iniquities of metal pricing, but if individual Reapers fetch $4-6+ nowadays, this was an absolute steal.  It might take some research, but these drunk fellows might turn into Gnomish Space Marines.

We all piled in the van and went to the local fireworks.   A new seating location was only a couple hundred yards away from the old one, but there weren't any bounce houses or food vendors to draw the kids away.

From all reports, most fireworks shows fell into two categories this year:  (a) a tempo akin to a grade school orchestra's concert or (b) pretending to be a crazed door gunner for a Huey in 'Nam.   Ours was the former and I have to admit that it was the first time I was ever bored at a fireworks show.

Our traditional travel on the Fourth would be a trip down the Ancestral Manse and some picnics with friends, but divorces and new jobs threw all that to hell.  We ended up at a small cookout at my wife's cousins.  Everything was good, but getting our foster puppies ready for a meet-and-greet that another volunteer was handling must have took more out of me than I expected, I was half-asleep through the afternoon, even barely keeping my eyes open while the wife and I had some quiet time with the kids off with the cousin's family to see more fireworks.

Of course, once everyone fell asleep I was wide awake and descended down to the Kriget Rum for some cleaning up and another wave of painting.  I think the battlemechs can get pumped out with acceptable quality.   The Mordheim figs are an absolute pain, the way they were assembled, and the rest is progressing nicely, a little bit at a time.

I found out that my not only did my wife need to work Sunday (Score one for gaming with the girls), but we were having a play date with one of the girls' more rambucious friends.   I had a small window to pull off the the second pulp game, but Maja and I both had headaches and needed to chill before our guest.  Once the little girl arrived, there was some light monitoring of play time, but very little for a game.


Ladies, Gentlemen,. and Shopkins, start your engines!
Once she left, I did get two activities done.  First was the 2nd Annual Laurel Lakes 500, sponsored by Shopkins.  We had a diverse crowd on the infield for the race and Maja won the 1-2 starting positions in qualifying and never let go of the lead.  She ran hot and fast, even tempting a crash on the final turn as her second car finally caught up to the pole winner, raced side by side through the final curve, and pulled away with the win.


I also got crushed by Maja 27-8 in two games of Zombie Dice.  That girl had her A-game on tonight.

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