iGameNight

I started this entry on March 16th, two days after my last post on The Tauz Blaug. It was also two days after the most recent Game Night, which puts it right in line with a rash of Blaug entries that I'd been CRANKING out in a frenzy of Blaugging activity. I then stopped writing this entry because it was time to sprinkle in some pictures, and I stalled out.

Hard.

I always seem to lose my rhythm at this point in the Blaug-writing process. It's all that copy/pasting code bullshit that kills me. Guh. So, here it is, two months late... Better late than never? I dunno if that's always true, but what the hell. Enjoy anyways!

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You may have noticed an uncharacteristically large amount of posts being published here on The Tauz Blaug lately. For a while, my goal was to get you folks five posts a week. To that end, I was successful for a week or so. But at what cost?

See, I've always been a bit of a procrastinator, as well as a proud night-owl. But when I tap out a Blaug entry, I tend to do it in the late evening. And my never-satisfied revisionist self hardly lets me get to bed before 2am on an evening when I am finishing a post. So, if you follow the logical conclusion that I'm leading you to, I didn't get much sleep for several nights in a row, so that I could post several nights in a row.

Such a consistent lack of sleep, coupled with trying times at work and my sad diet all added up to me feeling like utter shit for a few days. Then it really hit me Thursday night of last week. I wanted to finish my Watchmen review, but I just couldn't stay up another night like that. Plus, I wanted to try to get some sleep so I could start feeling better for the upcoming Game Night with The Workies.

But when I awoke on Friday morning, my tonsils and throat had become ablaze with the fires of illness. Disregarding common sense, I plodded in to work and proceeded to drag ass all the live-long day, feeling feverish and totally gross. At the end of the day, I hit the hay after tossing back some Nyquil pills to help me with what I thought were sinus symptoms.

When I woke up multiple times during the night, sweating, I thought I should maybe head to the doctor's office in the morning, to get some help. So, I went, got looked over, and the doc concluded that I was his third case of Strep Throat that he'd diagnosed today. It was only 10:30am. Not a good sign for York County nor The Tauz...

So, with little Bryan and Clarkie scheduled to be roaming the rooms with us at Fourhman Estates, let alone the dozen other grown-ups who'd be there gaming, it was with a heavy heart that I decided not to attend the Game Night that I'd scheduled for everyone.

I was very, very, very upset.

I really look forward to these gatherings. And I was totally stoked about this one in particular, because this was the first one since Tony, Melissa and Bryan had moved to Philly. So I was missing out on good times and good people.

But, remembering that Joe (of the Internet's fourhman.com) was a major voice in my decision to purchase my iMac, I thought maybe I could iChat in on the fun of Game Night. After a couple of disheartening failed attempts to connect, SUCCESS!! They set the iChat up on their laptop and perched me upon the counter between the kitchen and the living room, which is where all the action on Game Nights goes down. Here's how my Game Night unfolded, thanks to screen-grabs from my iMac.



First screengrab successful! Ahoy, Sadowskis! When I "arrived", they were stuffin' Bry's face fulla good stuff, parent-style.


After feeding, the terrifying Ginger-Headed Monkey-Monster adorably attacks the laptop! Seems like the cute creature wanted a bite of the Cinnamon Twist that was on the screen, and, sensing that his potential prey was in a weakened state, decided to seize the opportunity to capitalize.


After that close call, Tony sat down to have a chat. Behind him (from foreground to background) are Mike (Anna's boyfriend), Anna, Abby, and Joe. Not pictured are Melissa, Bryan, Clark, Joe's friend Mike, Witmer, and Rhonda. I have no idea what game they're playing, because I was too busy basking in the glow of most of Tony's face.


I heard kids in the background at one point, so someone was good enough to point me at the kitchen floor where Clark and Brian were having a grand ol' time on their playdate. Awesome.

Also, this shot revealed that the Hand-Rolled Sadowski Irish Potatoes were being devoured as usual. I immediately demanded that at least one be saved for me and brought in to work. Joe promised nothing, but I did get to scarf up at least two of the love-filled delights when I returned to work the next week.


Mike was trying to talk to me like a normal person, but I don't think I heard a word he said because Tony was secretly in the background, pretending to lick Anna's boyfriend's nipple. Hilarious.



To whom does that finger belong?!? Normally I'd say Joe, but he's in the shot. Then I'd normally guess it was me, but I wasn't in the room, per se. The hand's too old to be a young, rebellious Clark or Bryan. Maybe it was Abby? Wit? Mike? Melissa?!?


Joe is indicating where Tony's poop comes from. Also his ideas.


Over the three- or four-hour span of my cyber-visit, there was a lot of this: Me watching them play games which I could only kinda see. Is that Little Big Planet? Cuz that game is awesome.


Tony and I were discussing Watchmen and this his how we decided to best describe Dr. Manhattan's omnipresent dong.


Whoops! Poor Witmer spilled a glass of soda on the carpet right in front of the gaming area in the Fourhman Estates Living Room. I saw The Spill happen and I must admit that I laughed quite a bit. One of those not-funny-but-it-totally-was-cuz-I'm-not-there-in-person things, I guess.


Abby pulls an amazing "Calvin on Picture Day" Face next to Bryan and Melissa.


Joe looks like a dog who just heard a fart across the room.


Abby looks down on me. =^)


I share a Tender Moment with Witmer, post-spill incident.


Abby shows me that she's eating either a corn flake or a corn chip. Enthralling! Entertaining! Blurry!



Tony playing some Samba de Amigo. Hey! Quit showboating for your friends and mind the ceiling fan, jerkball!



Zombie Clown or Clown Zombie? Discuss...



I had to use the potty, so I jotted "BRB" on a pad and propped it on my chair. When I returned, Abby and Wit had put up this picture of (I think) Abby's dogs in response to my away message. Heh. Tricksters!



When iChatting, this is what you look like when you are reading IMs on your screen. Just a Public Service Announcement for anyone with a web cam.



Here, Abby is enjoying a slice of the Game Night staple-food. She's eating it in front of me so as to taunt me about how great it is to eat gluten-filled food.



Having had her fill of pizza and jabs at me about being sick and gluten-intolerant, Abby departs, completely satisfied.



The Sadowski Train was pulling out of the station, and with it went all remaining players. They all bid a fond farewell, and took off.


But they left the iChat window open. I was lonely for a bit.


Joe finally came back after having shown the guests out and prepared a bed for his buddy Mike who was the only gamer left at the house. We laughed about how I would still be down for more gaming if I were there in person. However, I was sick and NOT there, so I decided to bail, too. Even though I would have preferred to game in person, this video proxy version turned out to be pretty damn cool.