justin-shepard.net

So I’m finally getting around to posting the picture mentioned here. Here’s the picture with just us (click on it for the full size view):

And here’s the full page for the curious: The Whole Article.

Or so it seems at the moment. I’m in Tulsa as I write this, where my Grandparents live, where my Mom and Dad grew up and where the extended family is now gathering together. The why is that my Grandmother passed away last Thursday at the age of 82. If it were only that, this might not qualify as “Saddest Weekend on Record”, but other things have been happening as well (though I won’t say what specifically, as it is not my place to do so) that increase the sadness index. Enough for top honors? Seem likely. But certainly putting it in the Top Five at the least.

At any rate I still own you, my fine readership, a scan of the Dragon magazine picture (I’d link to the post, but really, just scroll down the page a bit) as well as an after-action report for GenCon (which was last weekend). These things will wait until Tuesday (at the earliest), however, as I won’t be back in Cleveland until then.

If you were to pick up the most recent copy of Dragon Magazine (Issue 357, to be specific), you would find a small article about NASCRAG (A GenCon role-playing tournament) near the front. This article would also contain a few pictures, one of those pictures would be a large number of NASCRAG teams lined up waiting to be assigned judges. If you were to then look very closely at this picture, you might spot a familiar face. Several of them in fact.

Yes, it’s true, there is a picture of me (and some of my friends) in Dragon Magazine. How cool is that? I’ll try to get the article scanned with picture in the next little bit here, so you won’t actually need to pick up Dragon #357.

Yum! This needs to be a GenCon event. Seriously. (Link found via Accidental Hedonist)

It’s forty minutes long, but this video is well worth it if you’re a fan of old-school console RPGs.

It was a weekend for parties. We had our yearly Christmas Party on Saturday, filled with games and Secret Santas. Quite a lot of fun, and got to try out some new games. I got a very nice Corvette book, a Corvette calendar, some DVDs, and more Sin City books. Sweet.

The next day was, of course, New Year’s Eve, and some of us packed ourselves into Jeff’s apartment to ring in the new year. We also played games (how could we not?), one of which was the semi-traditional drinking game. This year’s version was drinking to the movie Clue. Basically, everyone chose a suspect/weapon/room combo and took a drink whenever one of the three was mentioned. Not a game for the faint of heart, or the intolerant of alcohol.

On New Year’s Day itself, we hung out, watched a movie, played some games, and dreaded returning to work the next day. Except for Jeff, who went into work on New Year’s. All in all, a good time.