jedimentat and I just finished watching Darkon, thanks to a recommendation from petemagyar. We had previously seen Role Models, which contained quite a bit of LARP action as well, even if it was Hollywoodized.

Do any of you still LARP? Particularly fantasy LARPs? If so, is it all PVP these days?

Back when I was involved with administrating a LARP, a vast majority of the events were centered around PVE. Sure, players had conflicts with each other that led them to engage in combat. We had our race of shapeshifting demonic vampires that everyone hunted on sight that were populated by players, we had our players playing as the local militia and the mercenaries looking to apply pressure from a nearby government constantly fighting. But that was a small percentage of the action.

Most combats were between players and volunteers or players on "NPC duty". We'd come up with major plot events to happen over the course of the weekend, and the players would typically fight skeletons, orcs, bandits, etc. I'd round up a pack of volunteers and attack stragglers leaving the inn with a full belly on their way back to their tent or cabin, having skeletons march on the weak until they finally gathered a force to invade the graveyard. And while we had the one group of mercenaries representing a government who paid them to do so, most of the foreign military pressure was NPC in nature.

Talking with friends who took part in other LARPs during that time frame (1991-1998), this seemed to be the norm. But watching Darkon and Role Models (Hollywood or not), it seems that player vs player seems to be a more dominant theme. Is that something that changed, is it a regional thing, or what?

I hope all are having/have had a merry holiday.

Our friend S____ from NJ sent us a fancy selection of goodies from Omaha Steak, so we have been eating high on the hog, and steer. We had already bought duck for tomorrow's menu though. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting tonight and gave BC chocolates as part of his gift, I think I have had enough chocolate for tonight.

Lows are forecast for well below zero, the fire is nice. We are going through the wood supply but are staying warm. Except for when we first wake up, or are outside of course. Jamber wanted to turn back from her walk earlier than I did, but I smelled what I think was a bear even without a dog nose. We turned back.

I have been taking photos from the same vantage for (more than) a year. Here is a year of the same pond:
January 6

February 3

March 25

April 12

May 26

June 5

July 1

August 17

September 15

October 5

November 27

December 5

I have another photo that somehow got misdated July but has snow on the ground. We didn't have snow in July this year, that I saw anyway.
So, hope you enjoyed this little Christmas gift of a year of photos.

Sunrise today, 8:18. Sunset, 4:45. Mountain ranges on either side cut that down to less than 8 1/2 hours of daylight, not to mention the shading effect of the trees.
We got a couple days of good rain. Good, as far as any precipitation being good in this dry land, but snow is prettier, and our foot of snow melted down by about half. Still, we got some snow overnight and more is forecast, a Winter Weather Advisory worth. I think we can pretty much count on a White Christmas.

The sloppy weather made walking the trails difficult, the icy snow would suddenly give way to one side and twist my knees, but I got the travel bug into my newest cache, and confirmed that someone else had left footprints there. The FTF, first to find, is a "County Mountie" who was kind enough to check on my first cache when construction went right past it. I wanted to get the travel bug in place while it was above freezing, in case I can't pry open the hiding place again until spring.

I am irritated that as of the coming year no one will be able to have a Medicare Savings Account, the best option for me since I am in good health, unless they live in Pennsylvania. Once again I laboriously studied up on all my Medicare options, and after more than an hour on the phone today should be fixed up with what I think is my next best option, a PFFS.
BC may have to wait for my main Christmas present for him. Studying all my options, and putting off studying my options, took a lot of time.

Tomorrow I want to see if I can find the cache near a Grandfather Larch tree; my friend O___ and I tried for it last January in waist deep snow, without success. The remaining snow may still hide it but I will check.

Here are some larch photos:
May 9
Larch needles emerging

May 18
Green larch lace

May 26
Green fuzz

June 5
Fully needled larches at Big Larch.

October 4
Needles beginning to yellow

October 20
A familiar viewpoint from a previous series--needles yellowing.


November 11
Snow on golden needles.

November 30
Larch with golden needles in front of a bare larch.

December 5
Needles beginning to fall.

Sup, those half a dozen of you left on the eljays? Hot damn, haven't posted since October.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm having my hair cut. Instead of the usual `trim off the split ends' I've been doing since I had a foot hacked off over a decade ago, I'm mixing things up a bit. Having had the same style for even longer than I've worked at drewuniversity as a staff member, maybe it's time for change?

No, this isn't something jedimentat's making me do. It was my idea. I didn't want to get a haircut until I had graduated from college and got a career going. Didn't know it would take me twelve years to graduate from college, but there you go.

I'm taking suggestions for my new style. Here are the ground rules:

• No shorter than base of the collar/shoulder length. I want room to trim further, if I don't like what I've got.
• I'm keeping my beard, so hairstyles that won't go with a full beard are right out (i.e. no flock of seagulls).
• Keep in mind that my hair is fairly lifelessly straight, and I'm thinning up top a wee bit.
• I prefer low-maintenance hair, but I'm not afraid to go for something a bit rocking, but I'd like to remain employable, but I'm an IT professional.
• Suggestions must be in by 3 PM tomorrow for consideration.

Camera program working, so here is the initial contents of the Teddy Bear cache now buried under the snow:



And here is Seeley Lake before and after freezing:
Dec. 4

Dec. 8

Oh, the new cache was approved. A kid-friendly "At the Teddy Bears' Picnic." Yesterday I was eyeing prospective locations for a couple more, and have the items to start them out with. I think I need to wait for the snow to melt down a bit though before placing them.

From never having seen a "Whoopie cushion" in my life, I now own five of them. The oddest things arrive at the thrift store--perhaps they were for a kid's party? I brought them home to distribute around in geocaches.

BC's mom and her partner are caught in the snowstorm in the Asheville area. They had just had their TV and internet disconnected when the weather prevented the next technician from hooking them back up. So it will be ten days without either of those amenities, and we are hoping they still have power. Another friend was stranded in his car last night, phoning bulletins that were relayed to us.

As a matter of courtesy, I don't take photos of the exact location of other peoples' caches, let alone post them on geocache.com. But it seems I did photo a cache location, and posted it here in my previous post.

Yesterday I slogged through foot-deep crusted snow to try again for the cub scout cache. I approached from a different angle, and there was the cache, nested in a crevice of the very stump I had photoed. It was right on target for the coordinates, +/- 8 feet.

The contents were fun, and I brought home a travel bug to try to put in another cache for someone else to take out and send on its way.

Now the next nearest cache I have not yet found is 1.7 miles away. Across the lake and the lake outlet. I think I shall use a vehicle for that one.

This last week I had 3 potluck Xmas parties scheduled back to back; some people had more. I attended two of them, and was amused to note that some dishes were being recycled from potluck to potluck, though still delicious.

Another quilt friend went through her stash and brought me 4 big bags of fabric to keep and/or take to the thrift store. I will be taking the first installment to the thrift store in a few minutes, and found some nice fabric to keep too.

Camera download program is now not opening at all; time to call on my resident computer guru.

bizarre says i gotta put pants on. lame.

Leroy, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer.

This was not the intended use for a Macbook.