Okay.
On Friday, we collected all the change around here, and Chuck has been collecting it in his own way for a while, but I put it all in a big bag. We took it to the bank to be counted and it was $74 and change. WOW! That is some big bag of change! It filled about half a gallon Ziplock bag. That change alone could pay for a night at the hotel with the Con discount rate. By the time we were done running errands, and we really didn't even run all of them, it was almost one. We were supposed to be at the con a little early because Chuck is head of security and plus I didn't wanna miss anything. Well, it was 1 o'clock and we still had to check in. We waited about 15 minutes to be checked in because apparently when there are three people behind that counter, only on can help anyone at a time. So, I'm impatiently waiting for them to hurry this up so we can go to the con! After we paid, Chuck wanted to check out the room. UGH! I just wanted to go to the con, and I made this known. He said it would be quick. So, we went to the elevator and went up to the third floor. We walked all the way down the hall because our room number was 331 and they started at 300 right outside the elevator. So, we get to the end of the hall and see room number 330. Then Chuck says that it must be in the other building! WHAT?!?!? It's already like 1:30 now, and we have to take the elevator back down to 1 to go up another elevator to get to the other 3rd floor. Great. So, we exit the elevator, and our room is the closest one. Thanks goodness for that! We looked around, yep that's a hotel room, and left. We got a king bed and it ended up being one of the best decisions ever. Right now, we sleep on an air mattress on the floor. It's not that great, so sleeping on a real bed, a really big bed, was fun for a change.

Now, we head over to the con. Actually, there's like no one there. We started looking around at the vendors that had set up. We have one vendor in particular who we like. He usually has things on sale, and then he does this cool thing too. In town there is a comic shop called Acme comics. They sell DND stuff too, and dice and the like. Fran, the lady that runs it, is not really the best person. See, in DND, they sell these little figurines of the different creatures in the game. They come in random boxes with some more common ons and some more rare. At any other place you'd buy these, you have a SOME chance of getting a "rare" one or even more than one. But Fran would open up the boxes, take out the rare ones, repackage the box, and sell the whole box for more than anyone else, and sell the rare ones separately for even more. So at a regular decent place, let's say a box is $20 with chance of a rare. At Fran's, it's like $30 and then the rare is $15 or more. That's just an example, you get it. And, I think she opens the sets of dice and resells them separately for more. So, anyway, this cool vendor guy, that's what we call him, he goes over and looks at what they are selling their products for and then lowers his prices to beat them! That's why we like him. And, he brings a big tote of dice and each one is only 25 cents. That's great, because one time we went to Acme and I got one die, it cost $2! That's Fran. So, we checked out his stuff and I got a set of pretty purple dice and Chuck got a game.

We were supposed to play a zombie game the first slot, that is the first time section. They are divided into slots for each of the different games to be played. The guy who was running it wasn't even there. So, we ended up playing DND. That's not bad. My character was 9th level, really really close to ten, and I've only played 10 modules, or individual adventures. Most people who have 9th or 10th level characters have played in 40 or 50 mods. I had played with people who were higher level than me for so long I got their good experience points it jumped fast. So, I'm level 9, Chuck's character was 10 so we had to play with some other people around that same level.

We played in some really good mods. The first mod gave us free lifestyle cos when in this certain city. Lifestyle cost is like, where do you sleep,, what do you eat, stuff like that. There are three levels, standard, which is like sleeping in a ditch and eating bracken and berries you find, Rich, which is like in a motel or small hotel, and getting better food, and then luxury, which is like a four-star hotel and restaurants. That's the way I think of it. So, if it's free, I'll take luxury! Before that, I had always taken standard. It usually has no effect in the adventure, but whatever. The second mod we played in gave us access to any one item we had access to on any adventure, and we get access to one item every adventure on. That was pretty sweet. Sometimes, the characters don't actually have access to certain items unless you make it (and I can't make items because my character is way too stupid) or get a document which states you DO have access. At the end of every adventure, you get a sheet saying what happened and what you get, and what you get access to buy. With this adventure, we get access to a lot more stuff. At the end of this second adventure, I made my sword a Holy sword, which means I do a lot more damage against Evil creatures. Usually, I roll 3 6-sided dice and then add 9. Now, I roll 5! That's a big differnce. In the third mod (module, adventure, same difference) it says, and I quote, "You helped bring the guildmaster back to life. In gratitude, he makes available to you his pants." What?!? These are special pants, and I'm pretty sure they are not the ones off his legs, but they are really pretty cool. In DND, there are these things called Bags of Holding. They are like a regular medium sack size on the outside, and inside they hold a lot more stuff. Whatever item you are reaching for in the bag automatically comes to the top. It's pretty handy. Well, these pants have two Bags of Holding, one on each side. They are Cargo pants of Holding. That's bizarre and cool I think. I'm going to buy a pair. In the last mod, it says that if you spend double the time in this adventure, you get double the gold. In DND, there is something called time units, and each is a week. Your character only gets 52 a calender year. Since the campaign is ending, they stopped counting the time units, so it doesn't matter if you spend double! The campaign is like the setting of all the adventures. When 4th edition comes out, they are starting a new campaign.

We also painted figurines on Saturday. I painted a skeleton, and Chuck chose a warrior with a lot of detail, and he only did half before he gave up. I finished it on Sunday. Also on Saturday, Chuck bought a game called Zombie Fluxx. If you haven't played Fluxx, I don't know why, but it's very fun. It's a little like Uno, but not really either. The basic rules are draw one card, play one card. There are cards in the game to change the rules, like draw 5 play 4 or have a card hand limit of 0 or 2 or whatever. The way you when is to get the Goal accomplished. There are cards in the game that state the goal, and there are cards you play in front of you, like your inventory, and if your inventory matches the the Goal, you win. One player is guaranteed to win. That's Fluxx. In Zombie Fluxx, no one could win and the Zombies do. It's really fun.

Last con, Chuck won $75 at the restaurant in the hotel, so we invited some of our friends to brunch to use that gift certificate. It's $75, but you don't get change back on it, so it's use it or lose it. At brunch, they had fresh strawberries! They had mini waffles, beef stroganoff, chocolate cake, lots of goodies. I really enjoyed myself that morning. And speaking of food, my cooler thing totally worked. I wasn't ever hungry and I had plenty (if not too much) to snack on. It was great. I had a really great weekend.

10:01 A.M. - Tuesday, Apr. 29, 2008