What Do Unemployed People Do?

They sleep.

Or in this case, they get drunk and pass out.

Actually, this photo was taken of me during the very hot evening of July 15th, 2005. I was invited to a Hungarian party in Modesto (yes, a party of Hungarians -- Nem beszelek magyarul). Of course, I was the oldest person there or tied with one other guy for oldest. Anyway, the party was a real hoot as you can tell.


But unemployed people do a lot of sleeping. I stay up until 3:00am typing crap into my computer about my adventurous lifestyle then get up the next day at 10:00am or later to find half the day already gone. It sucks.
I had just trained myself rather quickly during my short stint with 180 Connect Inc. to get up at 6:00am and stay up until 11:00pm only to get up again at 6:00am or earlier the next day. Boy, that schedule didn't take long to crash once I went jobless, did it?
When a person is bored and you've already cleaned your room and the bathroom and washed all your clothes and bought all your food for the next month. What then? You blow some cash, that's what you do! Lookit what I bought:
Yep, a boardgame. Look, some people buy drugs. Others buy porn. Me? I buy games. Could be worse.
Reiner Knizia is one of the game designing gods currently reigning in today's gaming world. You probably haven't heard of him. I didn't either until I realized his name was on half the boardgames out there right now. Ever since the Settlers of Catan came out in the early '90's 'Eurogames' have caught the USA by storm. How can you tell a Eurogame from an American boardgame?
One doesn't have killing and death in it, the other does. That's the short answer. Personally, I think killing and death is just as much a part of life as anything else. So....
load up the minigun and pass me the ammo belts!
But in this game that I bought today, Colossal Arena, there are no soldiers or guns or tactical combat decisions... or even dice! It's simply a card game based on a mythical gladitorial arena where 8 fantastic creatures duke it out (albeit abstractly) in a 5 round tournament. The various players, which can number from 2 to 5, make wagers on which creatures will survive the contest. Meanwhile other players are either bolstering their own picks with combat cards or diminishing your chances of success. It is a simple game that has a lot of card strategy involved and very difficult decisions at times. I love games that are simple, but challenging. Like chess, or Othello, or Go. But for $20.00 (and that is a cheap boardgame these days) I felt I got more than my money's worth. I've played a couple solitaire games to test out the rules (because that's what unemployed people do) and I intend to test it out on some of my D&D buddies (come to think of it, they're still my buddies, D&D notwithstanding) this next weekend. I'll let you all know how it went.
And since we are on the subject of games: KublaCon -- a gamer's paradise -- is happening this year at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame on May 26-29 (Memorial Day weekend). I already grabbed my room for $102 for four days/three nights and expect another $40 on parking and other BS, not to mention a couple hundred for the games I know I'm going to cave and buy. I thought about DM'ing/hosting a D&D game there for one night. We'll see.
Well, I gotta get some shuteye as it's....oh....1:30 am PST. Catch ya later.