thebitterguy

So last week, when I was on my week of holidays (which was really "four days of getting the GX schedule finalized, five days of trying to relax"), Cynra & I took a trip out to Picton where we stayed at the beautiful Lake on the Mountain.

Lake on the Mountain, for interested parties at home, is a bit of a natural wonder. The name explains it all. The lake is located on top of a limestone escarpment, 62 metres above Lake Ontario, with no visible source of water. We stayed at an Inn that's next to the park. The park is very small (consisting of a parking lot atop the escarptment, and an area next to the lake itself.

The highlights are the evenings. Picton is far away enough from the larger urban areas (Belleville is the closest, and it's about half an hour's drive away) that you get rid of a lot of light pollution and can see a lot of stars in the evening. In fact, the light smudge of the milky way could be seen running overhead.

Pictures were attempted to be taken of the night sky, but our camera just wasn't up to the task. I really need a nice digital SLR. Or maybe I should have just taken my film camera. The Glenora ferry is a particularly lovely sight to observe at night, an arrangement of lights cutting across the dark waters of Picton bay, leaving reflections in the ripples of its passing.

The cottage we stayed in was a single room affair that was fairly well supplied. For food we were on our own, but it had a set of pots and pans, a dishrack, and a fridge, stove, oven and microwave.

It also had a TV, but who goes away to watch tv?

I tried a recipie for Carbonara, although finding a fresh piece of Parmesean in a small town on a Thursday night is surprisingly not easy. We were also annoyed to find we missed a deli on the way into town by about twelve minutes We ended up using powdered stuff, which is very much not good. The recipie, on its own, has potential.

We spent a couple days relaxing, driving around Prince Edward County, trying one of the local wineries (it's just fermented grape juice to me, kids! I ain't got not palate to speak of) and going to visit Sandbanks park. The restaurant at Sandbanks looked a lot smaller than it had been when I was a kid and bought issues of the Legion of Superheros from it. I'll bet they no longer have spinner racks there. Poor, poor Reflecto.

We did visit Buddha Dog, where we were incredibly disappointed. I mean, seriously. It's like eating a slim jim. And I should have known better than to go to a gourmet hot dog place with a wife who's very... neurotic may be a strong term, but very SPECIFIC about how she takes certain foods.

We came home on Saturday, racing ahead of the afternoon's thunderstorms.

This week I've worked to get back onto my workout schedule. I'm reminded why it's a bad idea to stop.

Day on: Friday. Well, actually, adventure starts Thursday. Cynra lost her wallet. Came home. Wallet was in car, wedged under seat. We go into kitchen, feed cats. There are ants (very TINY ants) around the food dish. We trace them back to a hole in the wall. They are hit with household WMDs (which just sounds like summat from Dune, don't it?).

So, that keeps us up way too late. We get up the next morning. "Hey, honey, I'd really like to get on the road by nine, so we can get ahead of the traffic?"

Noon. We leave. Things go well on the way down the 25. Honey! Left! LEFT!

Then, the 403. Oh, Christ. The trip down the 403? Three hours. For a trip that should be done in a third that. The radio announces that crossing the Queenston/Lewiston bridge is ANOTHER three hours. YHB hurls a paperback across the highway. Crap. Don't worry, it was a William Shatner novel.

YHB then decides to take matters into his own hands and begins perusing the Rogers Wireless browser to see if there is any info. Success! There is a link called "Border crossing". Which is broken. Fuck. At this point, a wise man would have realized God was trying to tell him "Stay home". YHB is lacking in some wisdom.

A quick call to mr_weasel gets us the info (cross at Niagara) and we zip across the border. No, literally. If Al-Qaeda knew that all you need to do to cross the border is tell the guard you're going to play HeroClix, we'd be in trouble.

So. We now drive the length (mostly) of Lake Erie. The drive through NY, PA & OH is really very nice. Lots of mountains and things. We even kept a radio station's signal a good ways down.

The roads were in good shape (surprisingly, since Michigan and IL roads have been excessivly crappy in the past), and eventually we made it into Columbus. At 9 o'clock.

The B&B was kind enough to leave us a key, so we got in, unpacked, introduced ourselves to the housecat, and watched fireflies flicker in the night. Cynra had never seen them before, so that was a bit of a treat. The cat's name was Baxter, and he was very glad to have company. He was very well behaved, even sleeping in a cat bed. Imagine that.

And, one quick thing: That web site? Ass. ASS. The picture is of the SIDE DOOR. You cannot see the absolutely gorgeous chimney above it, as it's obscured by a tree. The house is a thing of beauty. It's a reconstruction of an early American house by a specialist housebuilder. Absolutely gorgeous. Wood and brick throughout. A laminated newspaper article in the bathroom discussed how it was built.

The room was great, with a four poster bed and en suite bathroom. Cynra did not sleep well the first night, as she never sleeps well the first night in a strange bed. The bathroom even had a selection of supplies. The only improvement I can imagine would be a bathtub instead of a shower, since I really needed a soak Saturday night. Breakfast was good both days, with bacon n' eggs the first day and waffles the second.

Saturday: the convention. Cynra & I get there, manage to corral the guy I need to meet, who tells me where the Booth is and that he'll be there shortly. We setup, and wait. And wait. And wait. I get a chance to speak to Brendan from CUSC for a while, and it turns out another acquaintance of mine is the head Envoy for Canada. Small world.

Cynra finds out that teachers get in free (and get treated very nice; there are foot massages and wine coolers), so she goes to do so. After she returns, quite enthused, I suggest she should drop by Green Ronin and say hi to Badass.

Amusing anecdote: As she's approaching the GR booth, Badass and freeport_pirate are chatting, and Badass says "at this point, only my students and my wife Don't call me Badass." Cynra, who has never made either of their acquaintances, approaches, realizes there are two guys named Chris, and attempts to determine which is which in the only way she knows how: "Which one of you two is Badass?"

I begin to start healing wounds for WK (apparently words were said earlier) and get confirmation of HC events. Once my own badge got settled (another couple hours later), I got to talking to people.

Or rather, TRYING to talk to people. "Oh, Greg isn't here this weekend." "Oh, Cristi is at the office." "Oh, Paul didn't come to Origins this year."

Sweet Jezebel. That was annoying. I talked to who I could, watched what I could (registration requires computers; Oh, that ain't gonna work) and learned what I could.

Cynra & I both got Dark Pheonix tickets, and mine came up a winner! Yay, I can give WizKids money! So now I have the gorgeous summer convention piece, and as I've said, I need someplace to put her.

For lunch, I had the world's slowest Cheeseburger at the food court. Swear to Elvis, the Badasses had polished off their souvlaki by the time my food was ready.
So they spent time looking at my Dark Pheonix while I consumed. Wait. Was it a cheesburger? No! A massive burrito of some kind. It was dissapointing. The company was a delight, however.

Spent more time trying to catch various people until dinner. Ended up bumpinginto princeofcairo at the Hero Games booth. Chatted with him for a while, then kibbitzed with Darren and... the other guy. And possibly Steve Long, although he may have stepped out to write a supplement. They had the manuscript for Pulp Hero (aka Danger Inc 5E), as well as a copy of Fred Rev that had been put to the "I wonder if it really WOULD stop a bullet?" test. It mostly failed, although the general consensus is if the confederate army had had a skid of that book at Gettysburg, things would have turned out much differently.

Then Cynra went off to BD's for dinner. Very tasty, and very filling. Enthusiastic young men with knives around fire. Yum! It's like disneyland with meat, veggies & sauce. I really wanted to try different sauces.

We stepped over to The Big Bar on Two to see if we recognized anyone. Aside from eternally entertaining social butterfly princeofcairo (with a group of thankless infidels who weren't even buying him drinks. Philistines), no recongizeable faces were seen. Well, aside from Bull, but he's more a landmark than a guy I actually know. Besides, I think he hates me.

So, Cynra & I headed up to the wargames and boardgames section to look at the pretty minis. It was nice, and I think I really need a copy of Monsters Menace America.

So, to bed early (around 11).

Sunday: Up! The day is mostly spent making sure WK is placated and getting flyers spread around the con. A lot of people wanted the Frodo flyer.

Goodbyes are said to friends and associates (adamjury is still adorable), finally met elissa_carey, putting my theories of her being an artificial being to a middle, and hit the room for some Swag. Got some good stuff, including a copy of KYR. The disclaimer on that sucker will be neat: "I am friends with many of the creative cast behind this book, and helped playtest it. And this was a free review copy. With candy inside it."

I finally got to PLAY a few games; Looney Labs stuff with gwenix (including the fastest set of Chrononauts games in human history) and WizKids new boardgame that's really gorgeous and high quality. I suggest getting two.

Then, we drove back. Traffic was much lighter, border equally porous, and the rest stop in NY great; it's a single building for both lanes of the highway, with parking lots on either side and paths to the centre. Marvellous design. Shame the food is McD's and Dennys.

And that, ladies and gents, was most of my Origins trip.

p.s America, Happy belated Birthday. I'll have what you're having.

So, yeah. Last Friday, I had the day off while Cindy did some marking & reporting. We left around 3ish to go to Ottawa.

Now, I've lived in Ottawa for give or take 4 years in my life. I like the city. In certain ways. I know I complain about it being a grey and horrid place, but it's fun. And it has Mellos, which is one of the best breakfast diners anywhere.

Anyway, we had two wonderful nights (and three Gllllaaaaaamorous days) in Downtown Ottawa (at the Luxurious Novotel!).

We went for the "Cultural package" which, I am glad to report, did include a pair of tickets to the Museum of Nature.

So, we got in on Friday, and exchanged presents. Since it was the second anniversary, I gave her a set of our china. She gave me a couple cookbooks (on by Bob BLumer, the Surreal Gourment, and one by Jean Pare) and a copy of Tron on DVD, but not the anniversary edition. She said she'll return it and get me a copy of the anniversary edition.

So, Saturday we went out to the Museum of Civilizaiton. It was quite enjoyable, in spite of the missing escalator (so there was no actual way to get down to the First Nations exhibit, except by cramming yourself in an elevator with a tour group or a family group).

We got to enjoy much of it (but, at this point, the fourth floor is still a mythical construct to me). We saw an IMAX movie called "The First Emperor of China", which was narrated by Christopher Plummer. Since neither of us speaks Chinese, and the film was not dubbed or subtitled, I had to provide translations.

Example: Chinese Anthropologist stands next to a clay representation of one of the Imperial Guard that's at least 8 inches taller than anyone in the room. "And look at this guy; you mind telling me how the fuck we got so SHORT?"

So, yeah. That was fun.

For dinner, we headed to the Casino De Hull, and ate a vastly overpriced dinner. Really, we should have gotten the buffet. God, I love buffets.

I watched some people pulling in phat cash playing Blackjack. Man.

I will not gamble. I will not. I cannot. I hate seeing my money leave me. And this would be for nothing. I have no illusions about winning (I suck at stats and probabilities, but not that much), but Cindy has knowledge about roulette. She blames me for making her leave because she was at a 'hot' table. I just didn't want to wait another hour for the next STO bus.

The next morning, it's breakfast with Troy & Shannon, sans Shannon. Seem she hurt herself the evening before. I just think she hates me.

We had breakfast at an Italian restaurant, with fancy versions of normal breakfast dishes. Now, I'm no lowbrow, but I really like an occasional sausage and egg breakfast, you know?

Anyway, after that, Museum of Nature, where we had enough time to take in Dinosaurs and Icky Things (and something else). The museum of Nature is located in this huge old building that gets mistaken for a castle by pretty much anyone who sees it. It's buried down on Elgin st, down by the 417.

After that, home, with a stop off at my parents for dinner and pictures from my brother Adrian's trip to Ghana (he worked there for 3 months). There was one great shot where he's at a soccer game, and he sticks out like a sore thumb. It was so funny.

And we got to get two good nights sleep on a king size bed. All in all, a good time was had by all.

I also picked up my copy of the Kara Tur Trail Map. Man, I have NO idea why these didn't take off. They were great. Trail maps, for everyone on the planet who isn't me or a TSR employee of the early 90s, were fold up maps, poster sized, of locations in TSR game worlds for $6. They did a couple for the Forgotten Realms, and one for Greyhawk. Anyway, they rocked.

I'm gonna have to get the PDF version of Kara Tur and run a d20 OA version.