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Bright lights, big wins, big thoughs.
Dec. 19th, 2013 01:26 pmLast Friday I drove out to Brighton for a game themed birthday party. It was the kind of party a younger me would have died to attend: show up with drinks, play nerdy games (Magic the Gathering!) and chat with other nerdy, sexy people. Back in my day those two words weren't allowed to go together. You know, back before cell phones and the Internet? I kid, anyone reading this now is old enough to remember those times. I'd built up a fair bit of anxiety over going out (there was a lot happening this weekend), but ended up having a lovely time. Time was I'd be leaning nervously against a wall, worrying about what I could say to start up a conversation. Now it's nice to sit back and watch people chatting without any pressure or need to interact, unless I want to. I capped the evening off with a visit to Xmortis where I won many games of pool, made a date to shoot more pool with Brittany in the future, and had an amazing heart to heart talk that ended with a big red kiss print on my cheek. Truly a victorious night.
Four hours after my head hit the pillow I was up and traveling down to CT for a last minute Warhammer tournament. The format was very relaxed and casual, and we were encouraged to bring food for a local food bank. They ended up with a table full of canned goods, and I ended up coming in 3rd place and winning more plastic men (a chariot, to be precise). It was an extra nice feeling after coming out of a five game losing streak at my last big event. The snow was falling all day, and the drive back was pretty treacherous (the highlight being a tractor trail blocking half the highway, the cab bent at an extreme angle like a broken neck) but I made it in time for my roommate's Masquerade Ball. The drive back was extra dangerous, but my new car handled the bad weather brilliantly. I even pulled off several Tokyo Drift style turns on the way home.
I've seen an article about whining over privilege pop up from three friends on Facebook. It's not an easy topic to discuss, and it deserves more than a quick entry here, and who really wants to listen to a white, cis-gendered, male talk about privilege anyhow? Exactly. I understand the idea behind the article, I dislike a lot of the ways the author tries to make their point, and I'm full aware that I am the beneficiary of just about all the privilege out there. I don't feel any guilt over that (thoes are the cards life dealt me), and I think it sucks that everyone else doesn't have the same privilege that I do, and I think everyone should have those kinds of privileges.
The last interesting thing that scrolled by my screen was the hubub over one of the Duck Dynasty actors being fired from his show because of some homophobic comments that were printed in an interview. People are up in arms about what he said, and an equal number are mad because his "free speech" is being violated. The quote I saw was more disapproving than hateful, but let's be clear: no one is taking away his free speech. The government didn't tell him "you can't say homophobic things". A television network found something objectionable in what he said, and exercised their rights to fire him. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. That's an important thing to remember.
Four hours after my head hit the pillow I was up and traveling down to CT for a last minute Warhammer tournament. The format was very relaxed and casual, and we were encouraged to bring food for a local food bank. They ended up with a table full of canned goods, and I ended up coming in 3rd place and winning more plastic men (a chariot, to be precise). It was an extra nice feeling after coming out of a five game losing streak at my last big event. The snow was falling all day, and the drive back was pretty treacherous (the highlight being a tractor trail blocking half the highway, the cab bent at an extreme angle like a broken neck) but I made it in time for my roommate's Masquerade Ball. The drive back was extra dangerous, but my new car handled the bad weather brilliantly. I even pulled off several Tokyo Drift style turns on the way home.
I've seen an article about whining over privilege pop up from three friends on Facebook. It's not an easy topic to discuss, and it deserves more than a quick entry here, and who really wants to listen to a white, cis-gendered, male talk about privilege anyhow? Exactly. I understand the idea behind the article, I dislike a lot of the ways the author tries to make their point, and I'm full aware that I am the beneficiary of just about all the privilege out there. I don't feel any guilt over that (thoes are the cards life dealt me), and I think it sucks that everyone else doesn't have the same privilege that I do, and I think everyone should have those kinds of privileges.
The last interesting thing that scrolled by my screen was the hubub over one of the Duck Dynasty actors being fired from his show because of some homophobic comments that were printed in an interview. People are up in arms about what he said, and an equal number are mad because his "free speech" is being violated. The quote I saw was more disapproving than hateful, but let's be clear: no one is taking away his free speech. The government didn't tell him "you can't say homophobic things". A television network found something objectionable in what he said, and exercised their rights to fire him. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. That's an important thing to remember.
