A Weekend Review
After how down I felt about bizness in general, talk about needing a getaway of some sort. Luckily, this past weekend came at precisely the right time.
1) After work on Friday, I picked up Ann and we went to Old Orchard Beach in Maine. My parents rent a place up there for a week every year, and they invited us up, and we took them up on it.
I had never been to OOB. Ann spent time there as a kid, only living about 15-30 minutes from the area, but my treks north rarely left New Hampshire. It was entirely different than what I expected - more of a shoretown-type atmosphere with a random carnival in the middle than the spectacle that Hampton Beach or Wildwood provide - and that was kind of nice. It does have a bit of an older flair to it, though, which was different. The crowd may have been influenced by the people we were with - namely my parents - but it was more an interesting, unexpected thing than anything else.
I’ll say this much, though: bar-hopping with your parents is something everyone should try once. We ended up at this one bar (my mother insisted it was Irish, I’m convinced she thinks all bars are) that was essentially a fortysomething bar with the worst of the 80s and 90s pumping on the stereo. Patently absurd, Ann & I were the youngest people there by at least 15 years, and yet, in the end, it was totally awesome. If they had a better beer selection, it would have been even better. We hit a second beachside bar afterwards with a crappy cover band and a crappier drink selection before getting a slice of pizza at midnight and calling it an evening.
Apparently, it was correctional officer week at OOB, though - my father must have known about 30 people at the various places we ended up. Completely weird.
2) Saturday, we went from OOB to Little Sebago Lake to see Ann’s mother’s family. My parents came, since they were only 40 minutes out as it were, and it was a good time as usual. It’s always interesting to see them because we don’t see them much, so it’s hard for me to keep track, but year. We were there 6 hours or so and then came home, caught a late movie, and yeah.
3) Sunday was D&D day. After the rough grind of the session prior, I know I was looking forward to better results this go ’round. So, naturally, I end up the target of two hobgoblin archers and nearly get myself killed. Again. Never mind that I had cover and threw a shield up, I just got absolutely pummelled. I know there’s an aspect of “Wizard: You’re Doing It Wrong” if I keep dying like this, but this felt like total dumb luck.
Regardless, a VERY fun session yesterday for no specific reason, except that I feel it was fun and that’s what matters. We left things on a very interesting note, which is great, and yeah. I’m really excited about the upcoming game. As long as I don’t keep dragging everyone else down what with the dying and stuff…
Why did I wait until I was 27 to pick this up?
4) Upcoming plans: househunting tonight, gatherings galore in the next few weeks, work, life, etc.