Conversations with BAD people

(Pieced together from emails with You Know Who)

I thought of my BAD character months ago and immediately jotted down some notes. Very few of them make sense now...

Female

Beneficient, nanny state

1984?

Wedge!

Dopey well-armed bodyguards

Tearing down their faith?

Churches into gyms?

Wedge? Seriously... what?!

> Bwaha! Well, obviously it was important
> to you at the time - you
> exclamation-marked it and everything...
> I'm guessing you are out to be especially
> you-ish this time, as you were
> unfairly forced into clone shapes last time?

Well I am certainly not going to change writing styles when I know all that does is take away the fun. Though I toyed with what I did before- write in script format. But I have to be dialogue heavy. It's just more fun.

> Guessed me yet? *grins*

Yes, Morvie. I mean, Morty. Damn. And he is sooooo going to be amused at what I have planned for him.

> If you are suspecting me of being Morty, btw, stop.

Oh? But Morty and Morvie are so close... hmm.

Did you like my rhyme? I didn't know I had it in me.

> And yes, you rhyme impressively.
> Better than Zothar, certainly...

Thank you indeed. I once tried a rhyming BAD character. I was awful at it.

> I think it's fun to play around with other rhyming
> characters (or pig-latin characters)
> but to be one yourself would just get tedious.

Loving the BAD. Wish I wasn't too busy to play much today beyond a few minutes this morn! But I think my hide was well covered. Unfortunately, most players seen to be in a timezone that plays when I sleep... I am impressed with the synchronicity of the sheriff and granny.

I do have a kind of plan for the queen... but do you think I should implement it? At the moment I think people are actually coping without an evil dictator. In a way. Usually we need some evil plan but at the moment... well... I dunno. It's a tough balance to strike between letting the board work together for a plot and inserting a plot. You need to do both at the same time in a way. I usually opt for a character that doesn't have plot-creation responsibility. This is my first time as the main evil person... and I am not sure I am actually needed! The initial premise offers enough to rally against.

Whatever- I should be experienced enough by now to deal with this.

Rosie is reading along... that please me.

BAD is GOOD. In a kind of random and not trying too hard way. If you see what I mean.

> Yes it is. Haven't really taken in what's happened
> in it since last night,
> although I did read it quickly before leaving home.

Maybe not too much. I guess I haven't been checking in all that regularly... but it seems to be a good pace. A page a day is what I would hope for. We are beyond what I hoped for...

> But fantasy does seem to be our natural milieu.
> Having a lot of fun.

Yes, it does seem to work so far. In the past it seems to me that we either have people that never meet or we have people so keen on meeting up that they get stuck in groups that never progress. We have a third way going at the mo which is people crossing paths all the time but never actually grouping up. Which is... well, I hope it is successful. Certainly interesting.

> Hadn't thought about that. But yes, that's exactly
> what's happening. I wonder if it's because we do
> seem to have a slightly higher complement of
> bad guys than normal? It's the goodies who always
> want to stick together...but so far the goodies seem
> to be forming mini clumps quite happily.

Clumps? They meet for a post and move on...

Oh, it seems odd as well that we are actually having _days_ in this BAD as usually it is just one endless night.

> Heh. I admit to hating that tendency. So I
> take most opportunities to move
> the timeline along...

Were you Morning Gazette then? I was so happy to see that post. It really worked to stop us falling into the endless night problem.

> I also think we've got a lot of experienced players
> who know what they're doing and want
> to dictate their own plots - ie don't want to
> just find a group to tag onto.

Hmm, is that a sign of experience? Because it seems to me that they really should band together and do something! But early days, early days. I personally think that Alex should have stayed with Granny (not just for the seamstresses) because she was really doing good plot work. That female warrier thing, not so much.

> Yeah. I'd have stuck with Granny if she was
> trying to stick with me. The
> witch writes well...

Yes. I guess that you needed to include the warrior somehow though as she obviously needed some help getting involved in things but Alex isn't the player to do it. Not really. Not that I am helping involve people... I am more than happy creating characters and killing them in the same post and not helping anyone.

> I have no idea if we actually do have a lot of
> experienced players or not. Damn I wish I
> knew who was playing. Although, by the quietness
> of non-Hobb, I'm guessing most of the
> regulars who are around at the moment.

Yeah. I am guessing that Apa and recently nadine are the only newbies. Guessing. I am wondering if Craig is playing. It has been a while for him...

Oh btw- Rian sent me an email earlier asking whether I was the Sheriff. So I am not obvious to everyone. But it made me wonder that if she thought that was me it could very well be you. Though I honestly haven't spotted your style creeping into anyone. Which is most disturbing since usually your style is... very you. Extremely you.

> Love the turkish delight. But um what is it
> with you and nekkidness in BADs?

When have I been nekkid before?

> well, I found myself nekkid as bobO. That would never
> happen to me...not me me.

> Heehee. Well you have got yourself in a position
> for someone else to write you in, at least,
> which is more than you'd managed up to now.

Hey you make it sound like a bad thing. Why would I want someone else to write me?

> All depends on whether you
> trust your fate in Nancy's hands...

Not really. But I want him to hurry with his sub-plot.

> Oh, obscene doctor who referencing.
>
> But very funny.

Hey, I didn't actually do the lines verbatim. Give me credit for avoiding that.

Plus... making fun of you. And Em or jes or whoever. Many birds.

> we have guards and merry men and laydeez and so many other
> bystanders who we've never really had before.

I think I introduced all of them... Well, certainly the guards. Don't forget the aides.

The potato gag is wearing thin... didn't stop me from using it but still. e4e would be proud.

Not...

>E4E would be horrified by such usages for her taters.

*sniggers*

>We really are in the middle of one of the lewder BADs ever.

I am soooo sorry.

Actually I am. I didn't mean it to go like this... it isn't really a very funny BAD. It is fun though.

> Oh just guess me already. I hate that you don't know. It's really weird.

It depends on this next post... you see, style-wise I have nada. But by doing it the old fashioned way of picking up on times and things referenced, I am pretty sure I know. But seriously, I can usually tell you because it is sooo obviously you. And this time I can't.

>I am having a bloody hard time trying to write said next post, though.

Well I could do it for you. You are lucky I didn't continue... I want to get on with my evil plot but am aware that we are only half way through and well, I could probably cover all my points in one post. So, yeah. Let's have some fun for a while.

>Hmm. Sigh. I seem to be lacking in enthusiasm or something.

Or something. Maybe it is just that this is a serious BAD not a mini (Hobbling) one. They are more fun whether real or clones.

Oh, I thought I'd give post titles a quick glance as I try to change mine but forget to read everyone else's. Just read Awakening. Next time I see that sort of thing I will have to play along though Soulless wouldn't have fit the next post...

Taste the rainbow.

> Oh. I didn't get that...loved the shampoo line though.
> Heehee. Talk about specialised references...

> Heehee, loved the Colour of Magic question.

Thanks. At least that should be appreciated by more than just you.

Except it almost became "easier to get into than Wolfram and Hart".

So what was the chamber joke?

> Heehee. It was one of those that was obvious
> in my head, but I couldn't find a way to put
> it in without making it dull for everyone else
> or just way too obvious.
> Two words scribbled on a floor. (For some reason
> in my head it was always two words).
> Schlechter looks a leeetle like Sheriff...

> Right. Now where did I leave my sheriff?

I'd put that in the quotes thread but there are probably people who
still don't know who you are.

Barguy is more fun... he has a friend. I like friends.

> His friend is odd.
>
> But I bet you like odd friends too.

You know I do.

Jon is only a little queer.

> Heh. Which makes him fully normal by the standards
> of everyone else in the BAD.

It has got a bit cleaner recently... Which isn't saying much.

Incidentally, I am proud of nadine. I think that she did well.

> I am a little worried (given synchronicity of posting
> if my Nancy guess is
> right) that Zothar was also Apa.

Huh. Would a newbie do two?

> If so he has been responsible for a lot of
> the crudeness and that may get people annoyed.

Alas it was me that started the potato thing... I was not aware of my own power...

And I did make quite a few people nekkid.

I really can't cast any stones.

> Eh, that was fun. I always enjoy BADs most when
> I don't make any attempt to write plot...

Ah yes, me too.

> What?! You're a plot whore and you know it.

Hey, who takes a break from a BAD to talk about making aeroplanes out of cardboard boxes?

> Heehee. True. But then you weren't enjoying that one...

Yeah but I do appreciate pointless posts. I like Jim for that reason. He really doesn't do all that much... but I was really pleased that when Jim asked Jon what was going on, Jon told him and let him in and became friends... Aww.

Hmm, unmasking will have to start soon. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday. Will be interesting.

Really couldn't think of anything to do with Gertrude. Maybe the cat will kill her later.

You know, her plan really was flawless. She'd have got away with it too if it weren't for the pesky BAD players.

> The sheriff had no plan at all. Although he did
> considered discovering latent magicakal talent
> in himself. But these days I think it make him more
> special to be non-magickal...

Indeed. I know. But... yeah.

> I think it [ending early] was a reaction to us all
> being so independent earlier on. When the urge to
> group finally did hit, and everyone tagged along, I think
> everyone was thinking that this was the start of the end.
> Cos usually we look like we're going to have an end and
> then half of the characters decided differently...but this
> time it just seemed like everyone wanted to be
> involved and was happy to start pulling all the threads together.

Yeah, I guess. But it is odd. Very.

Somewhere with a view

Half Moon Bay (the place I quite want to be...)

Dates

May
27th-29th Spokane

June
3rd-17th Japan

July
7th-19th PhD experiment at SLAC
24th Louise arrives (holiday for me?)

August
3rd-13th UK
5th- friends' wedding in Hull
6th- chezskit?

Choices: the ones we make and the ones we don't

This morning I got up late. I checked emails and got the address of the restaurant I was planning to meet people at. A quick question to google maps got me directions, which I scrawled on a page of my notepad without really assimilating. All I knew was that it said it would take twenty minutes to get there and I was meant to be there before noon.

But somehow rushing in the mornings never seems to happen and it was dangerously close to noon when I finally got out of chezbob and discovered I had no cash on me. We always pay for lunch with cash. Perhaps it is an American thing or something peculiar to this group in particular. So I went to the ATM and withdrew some money.

By the time I got back to chezbob I knew it was late. Perhaps 12:15? Far too late to set off on the drive and arrive at the restaurant. I shrugged it off though. There were always lunches, missing one was no big deal.

I went back in chezbob and grabbed my bag, a book and the train timetable. Okay, plan a for the day had not worked due to my extreme laziness but that was no reason to write it off. I had to make myself busy after-all to ignore what this day should have been (but I won’t talk about that…).

And so I decided to head into San Francisco. I had a mission, you see, a mission to buy a new watch. My watch stopped working in March. I got a new battery for it but it never kept time. So that was my mission and I chose to accept it.

I had to rush as the next train to SF was at 12:35pm. I could have driven of course but it is infinitely cheaper to take the Caltrain and far less hassle. Plus you get to read at the station while you wait for it to arrive.

But I didn’t have to wait for long. I got my ticket at the machine and hopped on the hourly train almost immediately after. I can’t read on the train but I still use up the hour it takes to get to SF quite well by thinking about emails, tv, books.

My pattern never wavers. On getting off the train, I go straight to WholeFoods and buy a carton of takeaway food and a fruit salad. Sometimes I get the “comfort food” which is mashed potatoes and chicken and peas and gravy… or the Indian food. But today I went for the Chinese. I took it to Yurba Buena Gardens to eat while sitting on the lawn enjoying the sun and reading my book.

Obviously my next stop was the Virgin Megastore. Obviously. I mean, it is there. Who wouldn’t go to have a peak and drool over all the dvds? And buy a Korean film by the same director as Oldboy? And next stop, Borders. No, no watches there. I never pretended to be very good at completing missions. But I did find “Fluke” to keep Myo happy. Then of course a trip to my favourite gift shop was necessary. It has lots of goods with Miffy, TinTin, Walace and Gromit, the Little Prince and Asterix. Perfect for presents for many of my friends. But I didn’t buy anything. I was the only person in the shop and so scurried out pretty fast before the shop assistant could talk to me. Again, no watches in sight. Next up, Lush. Nope, no watches there. Plus no freezer packs of shower-gel and I still haven’t plucked up the courage to try the shower-jelly. Kind of thinking that I really should try to find a watch, I ended my trip at Macys. I was unable to avoid having a sales assistant talk to me this time and direct my attention to a vast array of time pieces. Ignoring the (probably pricy) ones he directed me to, I got a rather ugly but functional (and more to the point reduced) watch. At last. My work here was done.

Another long walk back to the train station (but taking a bus could have been more hassle than it was worth- the last time I took a bus it broke down and even without that the journey seemed to last forever so on the way back Mary-Rose insisted on a taxi). I was forced (oh no) to read for a while and wait for my train. And then, around 6:15pm I stumbled into chezbob, worn but successful.

No, wait. I didn’t do that at all.

I just went to the ATM and came back to chezbob knowing that it was late. Perhaps 12:15pm? I checked on the microwave clock and found to my extreme surprise that it was only 11:45am. How was my sense of time so far off? I rushed into the Dream Car and hit the road, remembering to zero my miles so I could use it to help me follow the google map directions.

I was late to the lunch but not too late to join. They had already ordered and were seated around a large round table. They? Well there is Joe from work and his wife Lisa. I have to wonder whether they always looked like each other or they grew that way after a few years of marriage. There is Joe’s old roommate from Stanford who has been doing these weekly lunches for 25 years. And then a married couple expecting their first child in a couple of months. A guy that always seems to illustrate what he is talking about with elaborate doodles on a napkin. And… oh others that I have forgotten being a bear of very little brain. To be fair, it was a large table and they were far away. We had to have a game of musical chairs and rearrange the table, purloining one from elsewhere in the restaurant while we were at it and arguing over whether we wanted the rounded edges up making a figure of 8 or down making a rectangle. We compromised with a dP motif.

I am not usually chatty around people I don’t know well. Or indeed people I do know well and yet have nothing to say to. But I felt I held my own here though possibly went into the realm of “things you don’t talk about at the dinner table” a few times.

At a point in the conversation, one person commented that the new design of banknotes included a Cylon symbol. And later he made a reference I did not get and said “sorry, I am boasting about my Star Trek credentials, aren’t I?” to which another said “I don’t believe I have ever heard boasting being used in reference to Star Trek.”

So that was the group of people. And the meal was good. Chinese food which appears to taste the same in the US as it does in the UK. Kind of dull. I prefer it when we go to a Thai restaurant which still seems a bit more foreign to me. My fortune was "problems you have will be solved quickly". Napkin-doodle guy reminded the group that all fortunes would be suffixed with "in bed or with a chainsaw... or both". Which works for me.

After the meal, we went to Joe’s flat and parked there (Joe rode with me to show me the way) to start off on a walk. I had a peak at Joe’s living conditions first and have to say that I am so very impressed. For a place owned by engineers, it is surprisingly full with art. Lisa is a fantastic photographer and everywhere I turned there was an amazing city shot or breathtaking natural scenery. Weirdly enough, in the loo they had a picture of York Minster Cathedral. The flat was made even more desirable by the living room, decorated in a semi-gothic style and overlooking the canyon.

Where we walked.

It was a long walk compared to the other walk I have been on with these guys. And much more beautiful than the streets of Los Altos. We passed a lake and climbed one side of the canyon. There were bricks laid into the earth to make steps to make this feasible. The walk was initially steep and it was, as usual for May, hot but I kept up, well practised from the daily “death marches” Joe makes me walk to get lunch. The conversation naturally went onto mountain goats, big cats and the Loch Ness Monster and then much disparaging of the so-called beauty of Scotland. Which I could not defend but at least I didn’t join in.

Apart from sus, I thought of Myopia as I passed the Eucalyptus and inhaled the wondrous scents. I wondered if this was the world that Rian missed or whether she would have kept away from walking up such slopes. I also admitted to Joe what a BAD was after conversation turned to role-playing games. I think that he was amused by the nekkidness but I was not sure so I did not mention the potatoes. Those are even harder to explain.

The walk was tough but the breeze when we reached the top worth it. It makes me glad to have long hair to catch it and dance in it. It was over at 1cp (that is 2:30pm for mere mortals) and I was invited back to play games but I had my mission- I had a watch to buy.

I leapt into the dreammobile and hit the road again… and got utterly lost, finding myself somehow crawling up a mountain with very little petrol. Realising that up could never be a good thing, I went back down the mountain and chose streets with some care this time and found myself in San Mateo, many miles from where I should be but at least I knew where I was. One quick pit-stop at the shell garage later, I headed to Hillsdale shopping center home to such wonders as the shop where you can make your own teddy bear (hmm, does Rian’s Little Prince like teddies?) and the shop where you can choose your lego pieces from lots of bins. They had Batman lego. But no Spidey. I did however get my Spidey kicks by finding a shop that sold a life-sized model of him for a mere $1999. I wonder if that includes tax?

After a quick sweep, I settled on Macy’s as the shop most likely to have watches and escaped the store clasping a watch that has the date and day of the week on it… in Spanish. Maybe I will learn something. I could have gone straight back to Joe’s at this point and joined in the games. But there was a Barnes and Noble right across the road and a dvd/music store. Barnes and Noble did not have any comics I wanted so I begrudgingly started looking at the books. I didn’t see anything there either but I did come across a girl proclaiming to a boy that “Terry Goodkind is my only weakness” which I do believe warranted some sort of thrashing. Unless she had only read the first few books in which case she may be forgiven. Not actually wanting to be arrested for GBH, I started to leave, spying before my exit a Christopher Moore book. Finally I realised that he did exist and I had just been looking for him in all the wrong places. I made a purchase and left. But then there was the small dvd purchase I just had to make (film one in the trilogy that includes Oldboy) and just sitting on a shelf looking like the Holy Grail (the fake one, not the boring real one that Indiana Jones chose) was an issue of SFX imported from the UK. With David Tennant looking dashing on the cover. Or maybe davishing which is my new word that perfectly encapsulates how he looks. So I bought it even though I never would have in the UK. And here it was twice as expensive.

At this point I could have gone back and joined in Joe’s games evening. But I was exhausted. I couldn’t even concentrate on driving and found myself having idle thoughts about, well, everything but driving. Fortunately El Camino is long and straight and sitting in the middle lane I was pretty much guaranteed no hassle.

I got into chezbob at 6:15pm, worn but successful. And thinking about choices. Do they matter? What difference do the choices we are allowed in life make? In this case, I burnt a little more fuel and got an imported magazine. Perhaps I also lay foundations for friendships though that is speculation- perhaps I even destroyed all chances by mentioning my online “life”!

It’s hard to know.

Staving off homesickness

From email written a couple of weeks ago:

On 11/04/06, skittledog wrote:
> But not so much yes because of the country itself but yes because chezbob is
> home and has american tv.

Well I can see why you'd think that but tv is more a sympton of a
problem than a reason to like being somewhere. I cope fine without a
tv. I am here in Japan without a tv. I was in Oxford without a tv.
What I don't like is missing tv shows because I get so invested in
them. But as long as I am able to one day see them (and don't have
people making me too jealous because they can see them when I cannot!) I am fine.

No, the problem is that I am living alone. At home and at university,
I was used to people being around for tea/coffee and chat (or just
silence… tea/coffee in silence works too often accompanied with
reading or doing crossword puzzles). But chezbob is just for me and I
don't enjoy the silence. So when I am at chezbob the tv is always on.
It does not have to be watched, it just has to be making a noise.

Just thought I should set the record straight.