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Oh, what a weekend it has been. Unending drama!
Well, not really. I got to Earl's at about 1900 on Friday, hot and
miserable and just about ready to die. I really wanted to collapse
into a tiny ball, but instead I virtuously phoned Steve's parents
house, where he was supposed to be waiting for me to call. He wasn't
there.
Not only was he not there, but his parents were very confused. After
some conversation I managed to explain that I was visiting from out of
town, and that Steve had indicated he'd be waiting there for me to
phone. To which they said, 'Oh, no. He went to a movie a few hours
ago.'
Grr.
I thanked them politely, then phoned his apartment and left him truly
caustic voicemail. _Then_ I showered, and we made dinner, and
eventually I spoke with Steve on the phone. And with Rick and with
Victor, and my, it was amusing. I could feel the pressure nudging me
into an old dynamic, but sitting in Earl's dining room, watching him
read, there was no chance I'd slide into it. Best for all concerned,
really.
I dephoned, and we slept, and then woke up too early on Saturday. I
was ready to leave by 8am, but they were of course late and didn't pick
me up until about 8:30 or so. We drove at high speeds to Huntington
Beach, which is a good hour or so away, off in Orange County.
Once there we sat around a lot. I met some people. I fretted. I
paced. I nearly drove Steve and Rick crazy, I think, except by this
point they've seen me do this sort of thing at least twenty different
times. I'm a mess right before I go on course... sort of stage fright,
except it's more irrtation than fright. I'm not good at waiting.
Finally, around 11am, we went into game.
It was long and hot and I spent a great deal of time running. I got to
be properly manipulative. I managed to keep headspace for most of the
day. I didn't get too emotionally involved, but got very
intellectually involved, which was perfect for the character. I had
some very nice play with a few of the NPCs. Our GM proved to be
absolutely stunning, taking what was a pretty bad script and doing some
interesting things with it.
Day one was over by about 3:30, which wasn't nearly long enough. Yet
another design flaw; the game was sanctioned at seven hours, but only
lasted four and a half. We went to Coco's, where I ate chocolate cream
pie and listened dazedly to the conversations until 6ish, when I made
Steve drive me back to Earl's.
Saturday evening I spent reasserting my current self, as opposed to the
Cera who used to do IFGS all the time. Earl and I went to dinner at
Flora's Kitchen, which was really excellent. I told him
about the game, and he told me about what he'd been reading, and we
discussed random things that seemed interesting at the time. By the
time we got back home I felt like myself again, and read several
chapters of Speed
Tribes before going to sleep.
Sunday was much like Saturday, except somewhat less fun. It was
hotter, and I had a harder time staying in appropriate headspace, and
the design flaws were much more apparent. I was also much more tired,
and my legs were sore from all the running I did Saturday. It was
still fun, though. We went back to Coco's, and I talked to some
people. All the conversation was still about the game, of course,
which was hard for me. It was a game, it had some flaws, it could've
been done better. What else is there to say?
After a while I rounded people up and they drove me home. I spent the
ride back talking to Rick -- mostly about his ex-wife, Michelle, and
about my relationship with Earl, but also about theatre and music and
lifestyles and people we knew in high school. It was intensely weird
to realise just how far we'd diverged. Rick's a drama major, and he's
in the midst of all this emotional change, whereas I seem to be
doing a lot more intellectual remodelling.
Once home I hugged everyone, then sent them off and found Earl, who I
hugged even more. After some flopping about we went to see The
Big Sleep at the Beverly Cinema. The shows were running late,
but we persevered, and it turned out to be entirely worthwhile. The
version we saw was the 1945 pre-release version, which was changed
quite a bit before the movie came out in the theatres in 1946. After
the film we saw a mini-documentary by some guy at UCLA about the
changes, including all the new scenes and why they were inserted.
It was a lot more interesting than I would have expected. Maybe I
ought to take some cinema classes?
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