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Yarr!
Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day as if'n you din't al'ready know it! Avast and scurvy!
*ahem*
I know I link him a lot, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theferrett often has a lot of good things to say, advice to give, and there's always the funny, that's very important. Today he talks about "The Myth Of The Single-Side Supplier, and does the one ability that I wish I could add to my writing, namely he takes two things that really have nothing to do with each other, throws them together, and suddenly it all makes sense, they do go together like fine wine and a bologna sandwich!
He got me thinking about my relationship with Maria, the fantastic lady I've been with for the last seven years of my life. We started off rocky, we didn't really get each other, but we both were out to have a fun time, and if we could do it together, then awesome. She knew I was weird, but she was in college so everyone was weird in one way or another.
And then there was roleplaying. She just didn't get it, didn't like it, didn't understand why I wanted to do it all the time. A year after our relationship started, I discovered the next step up in my addiction, Live Action Role Playing (LARP). It allowed me to not only act out a fantasy character, but also to run around the woods at night, scared for my life because a gang of five to ten goblins are running after me and I all I had to defend myself was one lousy dagger, and my speed*. It was an addiction honestly, completely, I was giving up things in my real life in order to play the game, hurting my relationship, my employment, and my life-style.
It was bad for a while, and somehow she stayed with me. Through it all she learned to hate roleplaying, hate LARP, and basically detest me when I went and did these things. Outside of that, things were peachy, but if it had been up to me that's what I would have been doing 24 hours a day, aside from sleep.
Skip ahead five years to 2004. I mellowed out, learned how to control my life a little better, and still enjoy a little free time with friends playing D&D. I LARPed, but if there was something important going on at home or money was tight I could miss an event without freaking out about it. I had matured and gotten past an important turning point. Okay, maybe I had just settled down a bit and realized I needed money, but I prefer to think of it as maturing.
That's when Maria started playing D&D, and loved it. She was making characters, learning the rudimentaries of roleplaying, and enjoying herself. Our friends were more shocked than I was - I had seen her slowly learning the rules by listening in, watched as she stepped in to help someone that just didn't get it and saw her interest growing, but still it came as a shock when she said "Sure, I'll play," and pulled out her Druid already made to go and kick some butt.
Skip ahead 2 more years, to this year, about 3 days ago. Maria's been playing D&D for roughly a year and a half now, enjoying herself, and learning more. She comes with me to drop off a sword I made for a friend for LARP at Adventures In Midland and sees roughly 50 people in costume, wandering around, enjoying themselves and having a good time. On the drive back "What kinds of characters do you think I could play?"
Like a dog whizzing on an electric fence, I'm shocked. "Buh," I believe was my response.
5 years it took me to get Maria to play any kind of table-top game, 5 years. Now 2 years later and she's ready to LARP (she starts next month). Should this pattern continue, she will soon be attending cons, enjoying filk, and reading fantasy books!
I'm scared. My gamer geek girlfriend is going to out-geek me, I just know it. The game we went to was Saturday, and she has her full costume picked out, bought and paid for, all she has to do is sew herself some gloves. High quality costuming, things I've been trying to get for myself for years, but have been told I should spend my money on better things. She's going to look better than me, fight better than me, and probably make more money in the game than me. I have only one saving grace.
I will out-roleplay her. If I lose that, then I've lost it all, and will have to get a corporate job, wear a suit and tie, and remember lovingly those days when I tossed those funny-shaped dice with friends or beat them over the head with plumbing supplies. I will have to out-professional her.
That'll be the day.
*Slow. Turtle slow. Sloth slow. Not fast slow.
*ahem*
I know I link him a lot, but
theferrett often has a lot of good things to say, advice to give, and there's always the funny, that's very important. Today he talks about "The Myth Of The Single-Side Supplier, and does the one ability that I wish I could add to my writing, namely he takes two things that really have nothing to do with each other, throws them together, and suddenly it all makes sense, they do go together like fine wine and a bologna sandwich!He got me thinking about my relationship with Maria, the fantastic lady I've been with for the last seven years of my life. We started off rocky, we didn't really get each other, but we both were out to have a fun time, and if we could do it together, then awesome. She knew I was weird, but she was in college so everyone was weird in one way or another.
And then there was roleplaying. She just didn't get it, didn't like it, didn't understand why I wanted to do it all the time. A year after our relationship started, I discovered the next step up in my addiction, Live Action Role Playing (LARP). It allowed me to not only act out a fantasy character, but also to run around the woods at night, scared for my life because a gang of five to ten goblins are running after me and I all I had to defend myself was one lousy dagger, and my speed*. It was an addiction honestly, completely, I was giving up things in my real life in order to play the game, hurting my relationship, my employment, and my life-style.
It was bad for a while, and somehow she stayed with me. Through it all she learned to hate roleplaying, hate LARP, and basically detest me when I went and did these things. Outside of that, things were peachy, but if it had been up to me that's what I would have been doing 24 hours a day, aside from sleep.
Skip ahead five years to 2004. I mellowed out, learned how to control my life a little better, and still enjoy a little free time with friends playing D&D. I LARPed, but if there was something important going on at home or money was tight I could miss an event without freaking out about it. I had matured and gotten past an important turning point. Okay, maybe I had just settled down a bit and realized I needed money, but I prefer to think of it as maturing.
That's when Maria started playing D&D, and loved it. She was making characters, learning the rudimentaries of roleplaying, and enjoying herself. Our friends were more shocked than I was - I had seen her slowly learning the rules by listening in, watched as she stepped in to help someone that just didn't get it and saw her interest growing, but still it came as a shock when she said "Sure, I'll play," and pulled out her Druid already made to go and kick some butt.
Skip ahead 2 more years, to this year, about 3 days ago. Maria's been playing D&D for roughly a year and a half now, enjoying herself, and learning more. She comes with me to drop off a sword I made for a friend for LARP at Adventures In Midland and sees roughly 50 people in costume, wandering around, enjoying themselves and having a good time. On the drive back "What kinds of characters do you think I could play?"
Like a dog whizzing on an electric fence, I'm shocked. "Buh," I believe was my response.
5 years it took me to get Maria to play any kind of table-top game, 5 years. Now 2 years later and she's ready to LARP (she starts next month). Should this pattern continue, she will soon be attending cons, enjoying filk, and reading fantasy books!
I'm scared. My gamer geek girlfriend is going to out-geek me, I just know it. The game we went to was Saturday, and she has her full costume picked out, bought and paid for, all she has to do is sew herself some gloves. High quality costuming, things I've been trying to get for myself for years, but have been told I should spend my money on better things. She's going to look better than me, fight better than me, and probably make more money in the game than me. I have only one saving grace.
I will out-roleplay her. If I lose that, then I've lost it all, and will have to get a corporate job, wear a suit and tie, and remember lovingly those days when I tossed those funny-shaped dice with friends or beat them over the head with plumbing supplies. I will have to out-professional her.
That'll be the day.
*Slow. Turtle slow. Sloth slow. Not fast slow.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2006-09-19 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)And when is your game going to be up and running? ;)
-tt
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(Anonymous) 2006-09-19 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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I'm really hoping
You should come, if only to laugh, me hearty!
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We won't disappoint ya. ;)
-Tel
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(Anonymous) 2006-09-19 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)If I really cared, I suppose I could talk to Kris or Kevin, but I haven't actually seen either of them in 2 years :) I'm just finally getting the urge to PC instead of just NPC!
-tt
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(Anonymous) 2006-09-19 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)Funny thing, I saw '-Tel' and didn't get it, but when I saw 'a poets justice', THEN I knew. That's pretty sad!
-tt
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Of course, as I'm writing this I'm thinking "One day the time will come when she'll say 'Miah, you stay home and watch the dogs this weekend, I'm going to Toronto for NERO!'" This frightens me somehow.
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Then I notice you mention Midland in this entry, and look and he's on your friends list. Weird. :)
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But yeah, I'm a LARPer and not ashamed, but I do accept that it makes me more of a geek.
You ever try it? (No, I'm not going to push it on you like a religion, I promise, I'm just curious.)
I Just Have to Comment
Oh god the pain...must stop laughing. For whatever reason I picture you running about with a plunger whacking people with it. All the while the Super Mario Brother's theme is playing in the background.
Re: I Just Have to Comment