Clichés of the moment

A few expressions I’m tired of hearing:

• He/she/they “drank the Kool-Aid.” I know the documentary on Jonestown is coming out, but I don’t think that’s why this particular expression has been on everyone’s lips this year. I’d like to keep such a simile for places where it really applies; after all, nearly a thousand people died, so let’s please have a little respect, thank you very much.
• “The Surge.” I had a very interesting conversation about that with Edmund last night; he’d heard someone discuss it on NPR, and it seems someone has decided “surge”, unlike “permanent increase of troops in Iraq”, is thought to sound peppy, energetic, and temporary. To me, it sounds of tidal waves, floods, storms, or my computer being fried by lightning and an improperly grounded line — in other words, disasters. So maybe that makes it the perfect word, but damn, that’s a stupid one and I’m tired of it.
• “Meme.” Just because something is a fad, a cliché, or a bromide doesn’t make it a meme (though I admit most memes are clichés).

Fun gaming, crap weather

The weekend went quickly. We made our Unknown Armies characters.

• Taylor is going to be team leader, with an Avatar of the Merchant.
• Ed Freeman is playing Tear, a bruiser/Epideromancer (trust Ed to find the breaking points in a game immediately! 🙂
• Mark is playing Ambrose, a tarnished paladin and former member of Opus Dei who lost his faith.
• Meg will be playing a Bibliomancer.
• Jason is playing a sniper channelling one of the big Avatars, maybe the Masterless Man, I forgot.
• I’m playing Brandy, B&E specialist and only surviving victim of the Green River Killer

We discovered that TNI basic equipment is pretty damn mean.

Then we played the playtest version of the new Land of Og rules. I had kept prep to a minimum, playing straight out of the book, in accordance with the instructions received. I was reminded of a basic axiom of gaming: if you put a T. rex in a game — any game, the PCs will try to kill it rather than running away as a sane person would. 8-o But all in all it was fun, though the venue was too loud. I need to write my notes tonight and send them to the publisher, Firefly Games.

On Sunday I met with a friend who owns a small but upscale publishing company, Wimer Publishing; I act as her Webmaster and she’s asked me to help her set up a blog. It won’t be a haphazard rambling like this, it will be embedded in her Website.

Then Edmund and I went to our friendly local gaming store, The Dreaming, and bought a couple of comics (including the latest issue of Castle Waiting), then went to the Metro and caught a showing of Children of Men. We liked it; I thought it was a movie the cast and crew could feel proud of.

Then last night we went to johnzo’s Dungeon & Savages game at the local club and had a great time. Everyone laughed a lot. It was a great crew to game with, no one trying to steal the show, everyone listening to everyone else and riffing off each other’s ideas. Since we had five women and three men playing, we voted for our group name to be “The Five Swell Gals” — ah, the tyranny of the majority. 🙂

But now we’re getting more crappy weather, high winds and sideways rain, and the forecast promises ice and snow overnight. It wouldn’t be more than an annoyance back home, but here we have all these hills and goddamn crappy buses that can’t make it up the slightest incline when it’s slippery! Chances are good I’ll decide to work from home tomorrow, as the last couple of “storms” made traffic a nightmare in the Emerald City.