Adam, Andrew, Chris, and I had a fun draft of MTG Conspiracy. I did really well on the drafting and got a powerful set of cards that allowed me to bring a lot of creatures into play without paying for them. Some of them also allowed searching of the library. The four cards that worked like this were Gamekeeper, Aether Searcher attached to a Scaled Wurm, Deathrender, and Grenzo. These made for a very powerful deck, and it pasted me as a target in most of the games. In the last game we got a little silly and I was barely able to pull it off even though I was in a terrible stalemate positioning.
Steph and I went to SF to meet up with Steph’s friend Yanika. She is an interesting woman, and the neighborhoods she showed us were very nice. Each one also had its unique and fun part. I wouldn’t mind living in those areas since they are so close to the water, and I could likely take sailboats out from the small marinas there. We stopped by some wineries, restaurants, cafes, and then Steph got hurt by a door slamming on her finger, nearly removing the left middle finger tip pad. She wrapped it up nicely, but I thought she should have superglued it into place in hopes that it would heal better.
Steph and I went to AMC Mercado to see the movie. This was an entertaining movie, but I wouldn’t call it a good movie. There was too much of a focus on the mom, who ended up not doing anything of importance. There was also too little focus on who the bad guy was, how he had gotten where he was, and why he was doing what he was doing. This made for a lot of time spent on things that were cool to see, but didn’t have any overarching plot value, while the major plot points were rushed. There was also a lot of hangover from the previous movie that made for some awkward points, like the amazing attractive girl no longer being the focus of the other guys. I enjoyed it, but it isn’t something I would want to see again.
Adam, Tina, Andrew, Leyan, Brian, and I went to St. George Distillery in Alameda. Alameda is an old Navy base and has a few mid-up scale neighborhoods on it. The distillery was interesting in that it has a lot of history, and funny history at that. The place smelled great, like fermentation and spices. They make a wide variety of liquors like absinthe, brandy, gin, and rum. The rum was different from pretty much any rum I’ve had before, but not bad. It just wasn’t something I had a place for. I didn’t try very much, but it all smelled good. The tour was great and hanging out with the others was fun.
This time I decided to go pure economy engine. I did end up getting a dwarf to do a little military, but that was only so that I could furnish more rooms. I ended up doing extremely well with 114 points. This was primarily due to the other two fighting over the military actions, but also from a lot of long term planning. I got the office right away and was able to do a lot of setup, with tons of animals and bonuses. I should have gotten some of the bonuses sooner, so that I could have done better on food. The pig bonus is definitely one that should be done as early as possible since it is just extra food to go. The sheep and rooms ones were also great. I won by a lot over Adam and even more above Cynthia, but it was her first time playing the game. She was also trying very hard not to go into AP.
Steph and I went to join Jeremy, Adam, Lindsay, Andrew, Brain, and Ilene at Jeremy’s place. We had a good time, and I really enjoyed singing a few of the songs. Du Hast is a really fun song even if I have no idea what is going on. I also like doing high falsetto in Take On Me. Ash sat in my lap while we were talking and it was really nice. He is very soft, but didn’t put up with much petting. He also started attacking his tail.
Steph and I went to a paint nite event and it was much like the last time. We really enjoyed the painting and the atmosphere. I’d like to get a bigger group to go to one of these, and have more drinks while painting. I’m up for dd’ing, as long as people get a little out of hand.
We took Brian and Brittany to the Cal Ave farmers market. They were surprised by the number of stalls and the variety. We grabbed some food and then continued on to Santa Cruz. We had a great time sailing as the wind was great. Brittany took the helm for a bit. There were also a number of sailboats out on the water, and we had a few close calls. We had a great time. We also met up with Jeremy and his Wife. They were from the Bro Divers group, and we had fun with them. Bo and Yumi also drove down from the city and joined us. After sailing we went right back to the house so that Brian and Brittany could get on the road.
Brian, Brittany, and I took a morning at the Chocolate Garage, and Palo Alto farmers market. They got some good fruit and sourdough. We then went into Stanford, and took the grand tour. They were very impressed by the buildings and the space. We went through the Stanford Museum, and they really liked the art there. It is a surprisingly good eclectic collection. After that they dropped me off at home and they went to Ikea.
It's an Exciting World 
