Escape

In which our hero gets away from it all....


On certain satellite radio services, there is a particular station which plays schmaltzy, jazz-lounge-ish music. The station alternated announcers and each one had a different manner in which they delivered the primary tagline. All of them over delivered it and consequentially sounded absurd doing so.

Apart from the fact that the music was insipid and the announcers unbelievable, what they were proposing was ridiculous. You are listening to satellite radio, which almost necessarily means driving, which, in my mind, is the absolute most polar opposite thing from 'getting away from it all.' Driving is death, and panic, and fire, and burglars, and demons, and madmen, and thieves, and charlatans, and scoundrels, and villains......

{This section of the manuscript has been removed by the NSA to preserve the life-force and sanity of the general populace}

.... it's just wretched.


So then, the purpose of this spiel.

This weekend, I got away from it all. I have been having a terrible time getting acclimated to being at school; acclimating to not spending time with my bros; not being in control of my own schedule; not getting to spend all day with my niece when she was here. I feel like I don't have time, even though I am on top of my studies, and am really faring better than fair. I love the work. I love my music. So, why the stress and lack of restiveness?

Je ne sais pas.

Whatever it is; I got away. I had homework that needed to be done, sure. But homework can wait for the lonesome hours. I didn't have a plan, sure. It was all impromptu, the only plan being that friends were in town, and I was going to spend every second I could in their incomparable society. I put the hazards and care of my life away and immersed myself in the mutual consolation of the brethren.

And there were stories for the telling, and roads to be run. There was trudging through trees, and foolishness in fields. We gandered at greenery and milled in modalities. We spoke, or were silent. Cried out, or said nothing at all. We posed for portraiture and laughed til it hurt. We talked of everything, and nothing, of cabbages, and even of kings; discourse in dialectics of didactics of demeanor and distraction. Words were exchanged, at cost or gain (and non cared the more which for.)

A day marked by the sheer unbridled happiness of a soul and mind at rest. Sure there was thinking, there might have even been some level of worry at times.

But what are such things, when one is among his friends?

Thanks for reading.

DND.... It's Dynamite.

It strikes me as exceeding ironic that this should be my first blog post in a long time. There are so many things happening right now that annoy and bother me to no end; but nevertheless, I am not posting about raucous protests or obnoxious policy debates; I am posting about Dungeons & Dragons.

Last week my little brother and I went to a local game place and attended a DnD for beginners class. We got there early so that we could introduce ourselves and begin creating our characters, which was an hour and thirty minute process.

The game itself, once we finally got to playing it, is not thought intensive; it's based on a simple skill and counter skill system that I find very appealing. I won't go into details of gameplay, I won't be *that* boring.

My brother and I had fun. It was a fairly large group, by DnD standards, and they sadly fell into almost every Nerd stereotype that I have. They were nice guys though and a lot of them tried hard to help us understand the game better. I rather enjoyed the whole experience, even if it did help to reaffirm all the DnD stereotypes in my head.

And so, now the question I ask myself is this: Should I make the effort of learning how to Dungeon Master so that I can form my own DnD group with my friends?

Right about now you're brain is saying, "Nerdnerdnerdnerdnerdnerd!"

Which I would not deny, it is nerdy; but it is also fun. I have several friends who play, and a few more who have expressed interest in learning how. It would take some work, a little organizing and a relatively small monetary investment on my part.

So what do you think? Oh much respected and valued reader? To DM? Or, to not DM? That is the question.

P.S. I am going to make an effort to blog more often.