The gym I go to did away with its group exercise classes last week & I've been so bummed about it that I skipped going to the gym all last week. Well...to be honest, I had every intention of going to the gym when I would wake up but the thought of not having that direction didn't help to motivate me & I'd talk myself out of going. That's not to say I was totally inactive, thanks to my Zumba Fitness game but nothing beats a good hour of cardio and/or weight lifting.
I went back to the gym this morning & the walls that used to house the classroom were torn down. Every cardio machine that the gym has was in use but one treadmill, so I reluctantly got onto it because it was the tiny, scary looking one. I started up my music & took a deep breath & pushed start on the treadmill but nothing happened. Apparently the tiny, scary looking treadmill wasn't working. Why the staff decided to leave it out on the floor if it wasn't working is beyond me. I got off of the machine & stood there, feeling very frustrated and a little pissed off.
One of the ladies that works there just happened to be walking by as I got off the machine & she stopped to say hello but I must have had a crappy expression on my face because she asked me if I was alright. I burst into tears & told her that since they cancelled the classes & there were no machines available, I didn't know what to do. I'm sure she's gotten a lot of grief over the last few weeks about the class situation so she could've been very rude but she wasn't. She very calmly told me that she would help me out if I needed it and told me that there were still options available throughout the week for group exercise through the end of August.
At this point, the elliptical machine opened up so I apologized to her for my outburst - it's really not her fault that all this stuff is happening. I got a really good workout on the elliptical machine and I also started my Couch-To-5K program over as well as lifting some weights this morning. I have a couple of songs on my fitness playlist that were used in the Zumba class I was taking & if it was possible to dance on the treadmill or elliptical, I did it.
I thought one of the pros of not having the group exercise classes would be that I wouldn't have to rush to be at the gym by 9 AM but that is definitely not true. If I want to get the cardio machine of my choice, I need to get there early. I also learned that I'm really not very good at dealing with change anymore. I used to just roll with the punches but as I've gotten older, especially within the last 5 years or so, I've developed a need for more structure. If I have any deviation from my routine, I feel completely lost & unmotivated.
There are many cons to not have the classes anymore but I need to focus on the positive aspect so that I don't get so overwhelmed again. I can set up my own routine, I can listen to my own music, & I have a lot of people that I can ask for help when I get stuck or I don't know what to do. And while I may not be able to take Zumba at the gym anymore, it's now being offered in a different location that is still close to me. It may cost a little extra but that class is worth it.
Monday, August 08, 2011
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Gen Con 2011
The last time I attended Gen Con was in 2007. I attended on a Friday and walked around the dealer hall with a friend the entire time. I didn't participate in any games & I played one demo after my friend made me do it. I had a good time but after going to Gen Con this year, I realized that I missed out on so much the first time I went.
This year, I wasn't able to go to Gen Con for all 4 days but I did get to go on Saturday. I have to be honest and admit that I really waffled on actually going. For one thing, I was going by myself and I found myself very anxious about occupying my time until 3 PM, when I was supposed to play in a Pathfinder game. I was also very nervous about meeting all of the people that I have talked to on Twitter & playing in said Pathfinder game. I consider myself a very social & extroverted person but only around people that I know really well.
I got to the ICC around 7:30 AM & purchased my badge and way too many event tickets. For some reason, I thought I was going to be able to fit 3 or 4 games into my day, before & after the Pathfinder game at 3 PM. I sat in the lobby for 10 minutes or so, looking through the program guide & then I decided to walk around to see what was open. I used a couple of tickets in the Open Game library, where I met 2 really nice guys (I want to say their names were Evan & Matt). These guys taught me how to play Elder Sign, a really cool board game with a Cthulhu-esque feel. I wish I had asked them if they were on twitter or had blogs because they were both pretty cool, very nice, & fun to game with.
I finished up the board game in time to go meet one of the aforementioned twitter people at Starbucks around 10 AM. Her name was Liz (@D20Blonde) and she was at the convention with her husband Kennon (@TheUniverseGM) & their adorable little boy. She mentioned that she was running an RPG called Fiasco later on that evening so I told her that I would love to play. She tweets about the game a lot so I was curious about how it was played. It turned out to be a super fun game but more on that later. Liz & Kennon were both very nice people & I felt very at ease with her. And just so you know, she's actually very tall in real life!
At this point the dealer hall had opened so I decided to spend some time in there. It was about 11:00 AM & I figured I'd spend an hour in the dealer hall and then I'd find another event to play. I was soooooo wrong about that. I spent 3 hours in the dealer hall & I know that I didn't see everything there was to see. I demoed a bunch of fun games but the 2 I had a lot of fun with were Monsterpocalypse & Bloodsuckers. Monsterpocalypse is a miniature game & I think the boys would have a lot of fun playing a building-smashing monster. Bloodsuckers is a card game for 2 - 4 people and you play either a hunter or a vampire. I would so kick Aaron's butt at this game. I also want to get the Elder Sign board game because it was a lot of fun.
I didn't stop to eat lunch until around 2 PM, where I had crappy food court pizza that was being served at the ICC. I didn't want to leave to find better food because my Pathfinder game would be starting soon & I didn't want to be late for that. I got to meet & eat pizza with Enrique (@newbiedm) but we didn't get to chat a lot. He ran a couple sessions of the Dragon Age RPG, which I want to play but he ran them on the days that I wasn't at Gen Con. He also has a system called rpgKids that he ran for some of the younger gamers. I've used his system to play with my boys & they have a lot of fun with it. Enrique was very nice & I wish I had been able to play in his games.
There were many highlights to my day but one of them was playing in Tracey's (@Rolling20s) Sand and Steam Pathfinder game. It was here that I got to meet Brice (@sandchigger) & Bill (@Alpharalpha). Liz was also playing in this game. I was really nervous about gaming with these people because other than "talking" to them on twitter, I had never met them before (with the exception of Liz & I had only met her briefly a few hours previous) & I've had bad experiences when I've gamed with strangers. It turned out to be such a fun experience & I have never played in a game quite like the way that Tracey ran it. He was very loose & creative with his style & it made it so easy to be comfortable with him. Liz, Brice, & Bill were all very fun to play with and there was a lot of actual role playing than I expected.
I wish our game session had been longer because the Sand and Steam setting was very interesting & I think it would be a great setting to spend a lot of time in. I got to play a halfling bard named Bubbles who was, indeed a stripper (an ongoing joke with @Misfit_KotLD). The concept was that we were put together as a team with the intention of completing a scavenger hunt. The first group to bring back the left back tooth of Sizzle Watts would then be able to join The Getters (kind of like a guild for people who retrieve items of all shapes & sizes). We were chased throughout the city streets, attacked inside a very posh theater, climbed through sewers & cesspools, & I even made friends with a flaming skeleton (for one round). In the end, our group was victorious (although the victory was not graceful).
I got to have a nice dinner with the Pathfinder group and a few other people at Scotty's Brewhouse & I got my picture taken with Darth Vader.
Holy crap, this is gonna be a long blog.
To wrap up the evening, I played in the Fiasco game that Liz was running. Bill was also playing in this game and we were joined by Tracey (@NachoPKB) & Jeremy (@WastexGames). This game was also another highlight of my day at Gen Con. Fiasco was effing amazing. It's kind of hard to explain the system seeing as how I've only played it once but I'll try. Basically you start the game by rolling 20 d6's (10 dice are white & 10 are black) and then you separate the dice by # (1,2, 3, etc.). For Fiasco you have different "playsets" that set up the scenario with tables for relationships. Every player has to have a relationship to the person on their left & right. It's not up to you to define your own relationship if you don't want to, the other players can do that for you. They pick a die & whatever # on the die they pick a corresponding category for your relationship (ours were Family, Work, Odd, Crime, Friends, & Romantic). Each category is broken down further by defining the relationship, i.e. Family - siblings, Odd - probation officer/criminal. There are other categories that can define your relationship, like Locations & Objects.
I'm doing such a crappy job explaining this game.
Let me just say that Liz & I had an Odd relationship where she was my probation officer & I was the criminal. Jeremy & I were partners in Crime, where we were the cons & we had a mark. We took turns going around the table & setting up scenes between ourselves and at least one other person at the table. My favorite scenes were the ones with Jeremy because he was so funny. We were strippers/prostitutes (my name was Kandi & he was Jenna) & we were both so dumb that our conversations could ramble on forever and nothing would actually be said. I'm looking forward to playing Fiasco with these people again on Skype & I definitely want to learn the game so that I can run it for my friends here at home.
So to make a long blog post even longer I have to say that my Saturday was friggin' awesome.
This year, I wasn't able to go to Gen Con for all 4 days but I did get to go on Saturday. I have to be honest and admit that I really waffled on actually going. For one thing, I was going by myself and I found myself very anxious about occupying my time until 3 PM, when I was supposed to play in a Pathfinder game. I was also very nervous about meeting all of the people that I have talked to on Twitter & playing in said Pathfinder game. I consider myself a very social & extroverted person but only around people that I know really well.
I got to the ICC around 7:30 AM & purchased my badge and way too many event tickets. For some reason, I thought I was going to be able to fit 3 or 4 games into my day, before & after the Pathfinder game at 3 PM. I sat in the lobby for 10 minutes or so, looking through the program guide & then I decided to walk around to see what was open. I used a couple of tickets in the Open Game library, where I met 2 really nice guys (I want to say their names were Evan & Matt). These guys taught me how to play Elder Sign, a really cool board game with a Cthulhu-esque feel. I wish I had asked them if they were on twitter or had blogs because they were both pretty cool, very nice, & fun to game with.
I finished up the board game in time to go meet one of the aforementioned twitter people at Starbucks around 10 AM. Her name was Liz (@D20Blonde) and she was at the convention with her husband Kennon (@TheUniverseGM) & their adorable little boy. She mentioned that she was running an RPG called Fiasco later on that evening so I told her that I would love to play. She tweets about the game a lot so I was curious about how it was played. It turned out to be a super fun game but more on that later. Liz & Kennon were both very nice people & I felt very at ease with her. And just so you know, she's actually very tall in real life!
At this point the dealer hall had opened so I decided to spend some time in there. It was about 11:00 AM & I figured I'd spend an hour in the dealer hall and then I'd find another event to play. I was soooooo wrong about that. I spent 3 hours in the dealer hall & I know that I didn't see everything there was to see. I demoed a bunch of fun games but the 2 I had a lot of fun with were Monsterpocalypse & Bloodsuckers. Monsterpocalypse is a miniature game & I think the boys would have a lot of fun playing a building-smashing monster. Bloodsuckers is a card game for 2 - 4 people and you play either a hunter or a vampire. I would so kick Aaron's butt at this game. I also want to get the Elder Sign board game because it was a lot of fun.
I didn't stop to eat lunch until around 2 PM, where I had crappy food court pizza that was being served at the ICC. I didn't want to leave to find better food because my Pathfinder game would be starting soon & I didn't want to be late for that. I got to meet & eat pizza with Enrique (@newbiedm) but we didn't get to chat a lot. He ran a couple sessions of the Dragon Age RPG, which I want to play but he ran them on the days that I wasn't at Gen Con. He also has a system called rpgKids that he ran for some of the younger gamers. I've used his system to play with my boys & they have a lot of fun with it. Enrique was very nice & I wish I had been able to play in his games.
There were many highlights to my day but one of them was playing in Tracey's (@Rolling20s) Sand and Steam Pathfinder game. It was here that I got to meet Brice (@sandchigger) & Bill (@Alpharalpha). Liz was also playing in this game. I was really nervous about gaming with these people because other than "talking" to them on twitter, I had never met them before (with the exception of Liz & I had only met her briefly a few hours previous) & I've had bad experiences when I've gamed with strangers. It turned out to be such a fun experience & I have never played in a game quite like the way that Tracey ran it. He was very loose & creative with his style & it made it so easy to be comfortable with him. Liz, Brice, & Bill were all very fun to play with and there was a lot of actual role playing than I expected.
I wish our game session had been longer because the Sand and Steam setting was very interesting & I think it would be a great setting to spend a lot of time in. I got to play a halfling bard named Bubbles who was, indeed a stripper (an ongoing joke with @Misfit_KotLD). The concept was that we were put together as a team with the intention of completing a scavenger hunt. The first group to bring back the left back tooth of Sizzle Watts would then be able to join The Getters (kind of like a guild for people who retrieve items of all shapes & sizes). We were chased throughout the city streets, attacked inside a very posh theater, climbed through sewers & cesspools, & I even made friends with a flaming skeleton (for one round). In the end, our group was victorious (although the victory was not graceful).
I got to have a nice dinner with the Pathfinder group and a few other people at Scotty's Brewhouse & I got my picture taken with Darth Vader.
Holy crap, this is gonna be a long blog.
To wrap up the evening, I played in the Fiasco game that Liz was running. Bill was also playing in this game and we were joined by Tracey (@NachoPKB) & Jeremy (@WastexGames). This game was also another highlight of my day at Gen Con. Fiasco was effing amazing. It's kind of hard to explain the system seeing as how I've only played it once but I'll try. Basically you start the game by rolling 20 d6's (10 dice are white & 10 are black) and then you separate the dice by # (1,2, 3, etc.). For Fiasco you have different "playsets" that set up the scenario with tables for relationships. Every player has to have a relationship to the person on their left & right. It's not up to you to define your own relationship if you don't want to, the other players can do that for you. They pick a die & whatever # on the die they pick a corresponding category for your relationship (ours were Family, Work, Odd, Crime, Friends, & Romantic). Each category is broken down further by defining the relationship, i.e. Family - siblings, Odd - probation officer/criminal. There are other categories that can define your relationship, like Locations & Objects.
I'm doing such a crappy job explaining this game.
Let me just say that Liz & I had an Odd relationship where she was my probation officer & I was the criminal. Jeremy & I were partners in Crime, where we were the cons & we had a mark. We took turns going around the table & setting up scenes between ourselves and at least one other person at the table. My favorite scenes were the ones with Jeremy because he was so funny. We were strippers/prostitutes (my name was Kandi & he was Jenna) & we were both so dumb that our conversations could ramble on forever and nothing would actually be said. I'm looking forward to playing Fiasco with these people again on Skype & I definitely want to learn the game so that I can run it for my friends here at home.
So to make a long blog post even longer I have to say that my Saturday was friggin' awesome.
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