So as I sit here, enjoying a day of the Internets while suffering from a cold (it is progressing though, so I have hope that I'll be healthy again by the time I need to be… I really hope that will be the case in any event seeing as I have two papers to deliver/help deliver in Kitchener-Waterloo next week at Congress)… I am reminded by the fact that many of my favorite things are oh so geeky, but that geeky is a whole heck of a lot cooler/acceptable than it was in days gone by…
… regardless I am oh so geeky and lovin' it! Still, it is rare that something, even YouTube content really talks to me as a person. One of those instances is this wonderful video from a girl geek that really makes me smile, because she's got it so right:
Last night, I finally played Puerto Rico and while I lost horribly (my strategy was 'build all the things' which totally doesn't work so well in a two player game when the other player is producing all the resources… *shrugs*), but it reminded me just how much I ADORE board gaming, both for its social aspect (I mean iPod games are all fine and good, and I lost at iPod Monopoly like half a dozen times in the past 24 hours [I suck at Monopoly], but what else do you do when people aren't playing their turn on Ticket to Ride Pocket Edition, and when you've beat all the iPod Settlers of Catan campaign levels…?), and for the sheer awesomeness of gameplay. Video games are great and all, but I so prefer board games! This is why I pre-ordered Cards Against Humanity as soon as I learned it was available in the Canadian online store this week and I totally can't wait until it arrives! Oooh and I talked to another ol' friend whom I hadn't seen in ages and it turns out he's a big board gamer too! So maybe my next board game night, he might attend? Mind you my next [well organized, not spur of the moment] board game night may well be in late July (for my birthday?) due to my hectic travel schedule.
You see, as much as I adore geeky things I also adore travel (and yes, travel can be geeky in its own way, thank you very much), and just got back from Vancouver where I enjoyed a combination of CKI awesomeness, seeing friends and family, and experiencing Vancouver. I stayed with three different friends on this trip, none of whom were originally from Vancouver. And in general it was awesome (well, except for my temporary idiot-ness where I lost learner's licence at the airport. Thank goodness that was resolved quickly!). I walked around much of Vancouver (Kitsilano, Chinatown, Downtown, Stanley Park, North Vancouver), checked out an interesting bookstore, Banyen Books, noticing books that several of my friends would enjoy including Laury, Basil and others (no I didn't buy anything, money is tight, given so much upcoming travel! I have even upped my availability at the grocery store as finances are tighter than what is ideal), noticing board game and comic shops that I really really wanted to visit (but thanks to the good ones not being open when I walked by, and the toy store that was open being overpriced AND it is BC so there's HST, I wasn't buying, as tempting as it was), eating sushi (I ate at Nick's sushi which was okay, but nothing spectacular, and went to Tampopo for all you can eat [Daniel proved that he does indeed have a crazy huge appetite!]), eating Korean hot pot (for my first time!), eating many other delicious things (and some that were less than delicious), visiting the aquarium (which was awesome!), visiting the park beside the Chinese Garden (someday I will actually visit the garden side, I think!), walking around at the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and park (I adore heights, and the natural wonderland that is North Vancouver is great fun to visit!), going to Lonsdale Quay, taking transit, realizing that Google Maps is sometimes very very flawed, walking about on beaches, and generally having a good time, particularly when weather was behaving.
Yes, it was a good trip and a reasonably excellent first ever CKI Sub-regional event. I'm glad I got to spend it with such awesome people as aunts, my cousin, my uncle, my friends, and CKI members.
Unfortunately I had a bit of a stomach upset near the end of my trip and am now dealing with a cold, surely brought on by travel (what do you expect with airplanes, rain, etc.?) but I look forward to my next trip — and I depart less than a week after I got home from my most recent one!