Last weekend I went to Gen Con Indy with Mike W. This year, I had a specific goal of attending more events and not spending as much tyme in the video game room.

Thursday, Day 1

Mike W. and I left for Indianapolis between 6:30 and 7:00 pm after work. I was worried about the motel we were staying at. I had read some reviews online and they were universally horrendous - like, every single one was a zero. After arriving, Mike W. checked in and we drove to our room. The room next to ours had the door open. Not a good start. We went in and looked around. Here's a list of what we found:

1. Gash in wall stuffed with toilet paper and other crap
2. Screw holes in wall stuffed with toilet paper and other crap
3. Peephole in the door was just a hole in the door
4. Knife stab mark in door
5. Hardened crust of crap on AC unit
6. Badly stained bedsheets
7. Cigarette burn through bedsheet into mattress (this was a NONSMOKING room!)
8. Smelled like smoke in room
9. Stained towel in shower
10. Hole in shower wall stuffed with crap
11. Writing on bathroom mirror (WTF)
12. Super dirty underneath bathroom sink
13. Dead bedbug underneath mattress (!!!!)

As we went through the room, I slowly realized that I could not stay there. This was, without a doubt, the scariest motel room I had ever seen. Mike W. and I decided to start calling nearby places and found a Motel 6. We went back to the office and he told the clerk we weren't staying. We drove to the Motel 6 and checked in. We once again surveyed the room. This time the room wasn't particularly great, but I felt like the chance of getting murdered at night was pretty low. And I didn't find any horking bedbugs.

Mike W. and I went to the Convention Centre and met Alicia there while picking up our badges. We then went to buy some event tickets, but their printer was messed up and it took forever. We ended up going back to the check-in area, (where there was a massive line) and then back to the first counter. By this time, it was getting late so we went to the video game room and I found Jay, who was running the show with Rock Band. We pretty much stayed in the game room until it closed.

Friday, Day 2

Mike W. and I slept in pretty late and went to Robert Evans for breakfast. We got to the Convention Centre just before 2:00 and Mike W. went to his Resident Evil Deckbuilding Game tournament. I went over to the True Dungeon area (read: LARPing area) and went to the foam workshop, where I learned how to make (and made) a foam sword and shield. It was surprisingly labor intensive and took me just long enough that Mike W. had finished his tournament. We met back up and Mike W. wanted to get a Resident evil promo card from the booth, so we went over and he played a round while I demoed the Star Trak deckbuilding game. While Mike W. continued playing, I walked over to the booth that was selling tons of books and junk for $5. All of the workers were wearing stupid hats that advertised that everything was $5. I picked up a Spycraft 1.0 book, thinking I got a good deal. I then headed over to Alicia's booth where she was demoing their new game, Zombicide. She kind of demoed it for me and it seemed decent, although she said it was $90 which is a ton for a board game. By now, the main hall closed and Mike W. and I stepped outside and walked up to a game show that was starting nearby. I participated twice: once because a contestant had to find seven people wearing the colors of the rainbow and I was the only person wearing an indigo shirt, and once because a contestant had to find a musical instrument. He looked at me and said, "You're a drummer." I have no clue how he knew that I played, but I got out the drumsticks in my backpack and it counted. Eventually, the game show ended and Mike W. and I went to the Mayfair Games room where we earned some ribbons by playing Atlantis, Alchemist, Station Master, and Dice of Catan. The last two were with an old woman named "Paw". We earned wood, clay, grain, and ore. The Mayfair room closed at 12:00 am so we went to the video game room where I played Rock Band until 2:00 am.

Saturday, Day 3

Mike W. said he was going to set his alarm early so we could get to the Convention Centre earlier, but it didn't happen. We skipped Robert Evans and made it by 1:00 - just in time to make the seminar I wanted to attend. It was on the next D&D edition and the lead designers talked a bunch about it. It sounded pretty good to me and very different from previous editions. I even got to ask them a question. After the seminar, Mike W. realized he had left all his tickets back at the motel room. While he dealt with that, I went and played a moose game and got my sheep ribbon and turned all five in for my "Knight of Catan" ribbon and minor prize. I then shopped around the main hall and got some dice and miniatures. Remember the booth that had everything for $5? Today everything was $2. I basically just grabbed a bunch of cool looking books and paid them $10. In retrospect, I should have grabbed everything in sight. I met back up with Mike W. and he got some food and we watched a "pick up" juggling session with about five jugglers outside. We then went back to the video game room where Mike W. played in his Smash Bros. tournament and lost in the first round. We left and went to what Mike W. described as a "rave" at Union Central. It turned out to be a masquerade ball (not even close to the same thing) and we left after ten minutes. We were supposed to meet Alicia there, but she was nowhere to be found. We decided to go back to the Mayfair room and play some more games. At this point, Mike W. realized he had lost all his ribbons from last night. HORK! We played some games with two brothers: one was dressed up as Link and the other wasn't dressed up as anyone, but really looked like Wolverine from the X-Men movies. We replayed some games from the night before but also played Struggle for Catan, which was a new one. I got my last three ribbons (cloth, paper, coin) and Mike W. somehow convinced the people to give him his four ribbons back. When the Mayfair room closed at 12:00, we went back to the video game room once again. I played Rock Band again until 2:00 am when it closed.

Sunday, Day 4

We got to the Convention Centre earlier today after checking out and I turned in my three ribbons for my "Defender of Catan" ribbon and major prize. During this time, Mike W. traded for his sheep ribbon and completed the first set of five. He got jealous of my ribbons and decided he wanted to get the last three. We went back to the Mayfair room AGAIN and played one game of Wacky Wacky West and I gave him the ribbon I would have earned since I was already done. However, the Mayfair room closed at something like noon for unknown reasons and Mike W. still needed one more ribbon. He quickly headed over to the demo area where he had to barge into a game to get the last one. I walked around some more and went to a used book store where I got a copy of an AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide and an old Alternity book. Man, my backpack was getting heavy. I met back up with Mike W. who had finally finished getting his ribbons and we went to the raffle (which we were entered into by earning the ribbons). We didn't win anything, but I did get one of the "flying sheep". After that, Mike W. shopped around and we eventually went back to Alicia's booth. We said goodbye and she wanted my flying sheep, so I gave it to her. I went back to the video game room to say goodbye to Jay, but it was all locked up. We left the Con and returned to Cincinnati. It ended way too fast.

You know what really grinds my gears? Old people. But that's not what this is about. This is about when people add an unnecessary "'s" to the end of an establishment's name. I don't know how it got started, but everyone does it.

Many places use this construct intentionally, such as Applebee's. The idea here is that someone named "Applebee" started or owned the restaurant at some point. Hence, you add the apostrophe s to show ownership. Whether or not this Applebee person exists is irrelevant; the point is that the name is possessive. Also, Applebee's sucks.

Perhaps the place I most often hear this mistake applied to is Mount Lookout Tavern. People abbreviate it and then add an apostrophe s on the end for unknown reasons. The result: MLT's. Mount Lookout Tavern's... what? What does the building possess? Just call it MLT. Fewer letters and everything. I once called Josh V. out on this when he said that he "went to MLT's". He made up some crappy excuse that he was implying that he went to Mount Lookout Tavern's trivia night. That's a Luke-style excuse.

Another big one is "Kroger's". This would actually make sense because the founder is a person named Kroger and he possessed the chain. But guess what - there is no apostrophe s on the end of the name, so it's still wrong.

Finally, I was at Chipotle the other day and a woman was talking on her phone and ordering at the same time (another cause for rage, but I "disgress"). She said to the person on the phone that she was at "Chipotle's". I haven't been so disgusted in a long time.

Now I'm going to leave Katzen's and go to stupid horking Kroger's beacause I have no food. I might also have to stop at Speedway's, as I'm getting low on gas and haven't been accosted for money yet this week. On the plus side, tomorrow is Friday, so I'll go to Skyline's for lunch.

Ok, enough.

I went to the Ren Fest on Sunday with Andy and Amy Grant. We went to the gaming joust, where the knights rode past some rings and lanced the rings. Then they threw spears into some hay with bullseyes painted on them. Then, strangely, the knights geared up for the joust. We were surprised because the gaming joust typically was just that - games and not smashing each other with lances. So anyway, Sir Robert and Dame Jessica battled it out. On the first pass, they both broke lances. On the second pass, Sir Robert broke his lance and Dame Jessica was unhorsed. I was pretty pumped. I had never seen that happen before and I've been to the Ren Fest many tymes. Dame Jessica got up and back on the horse for another pass. Sir Robert broke another lance on her and she fell off again. This tyme, she did not get back up.

It was very strange. Everyone got quiet and didn't know what to do. We were supposed to cheer for Sir Robert for winning, but Dame Jessica was obviously hurt and cheering for that didn't seem right. They didn't announce a winner or even proceed with the winning "throw candy into the crowd" deal. Everyone just kind of slowly dissipated, feeling weird.

I wonder if they've run into that before. I mean, with the number of jousts they do and the danger level involved, someone has to have been injured before. Even the announcer didn't seem to know what to do. He just kept saying, "This is real, people."

In conclusion, awkward.