Alpha Omega

My fellow roleplayers and I have recently 'finished' our D&D4 campaign. That is to say, we defeated the Big Bad Evil Guy and (kind of sort of) neutralized the threat. There are still plenty of loose ends that we can tie up, but nothing significant to prevent a welcome ingame vacation.

We've taken this opportunity to start something new -- at least for a while. The DM has become a player and yours truly is promoted to Game Moderator for a thrilling post-apocalyptic sci-fi game of Alpha Omega.

Everyone is very excited, and the effort that's being put in character creation and group building is just plain awesome -- a GM's dream come true.

Now I just hope that I can live up to the players' expectations and deliver a rich, exciting experience...

Bonded

So, the wedding was last saturday, and I have to say it was everything it should have been. Except for the weather, maybe (there was no sun, but that didn't bother us in the least), the entire day was as perfect as it could be. Everything appeared to be meticulously planned and executed, even though we just let ourselves go with the flow and just had a great time.

The civil wedding in the morning was quite okay. It took half an hour for the official to say his thing, have us sign the papers, and congratulate us.

During noon, we went to my wife's parents' house to relax and have lunch. It was really comfortable and enjoyable, having everyone close to us be there.

The service in the church was good (no hassle with rings not wanting to slide over fingers, or witnesses not showing up, or anything). Our son stole the show, though, running around and playing in front of the altar and doing his cute little dance whenever the fanfare played their music. I think the people attending the service payed more attention to him than to what the priest was saying.

Then we went on to the reception, the evening dinner and the dance party, all at the same place. The food was excellent, the staff was courteous, fast, friendly, and clean, the place was very cozy, and the DJ did his job very well (at any time during the dancing party, there were more people on the dance floor than sitting at their tables, which you don't see all that often at weddings).

What I liked most was seeing everyone at the evening feast honestly enjoying themselves. That really gave me a kick.

Too bad you can have this day only once in your life (at least, that's the point).

Sneak attacked!

This weekend, my friends completely surprised me with a bachelor party (yeah, I'm marrying in two weeks).

It was a great evening, filled with the sweet nostalgia of staying up all night playing games and having fun. We went out for dinner (japanese) and spent the night at a friend's apartment in Leuven, where we played boardgames and console games (Wii and PS2) until sunrise.

Oh yeah, and they got me a stripper. It's weird, but you really get to know yourself a little better at a moment like that. The thoughts going through my mind when she was 'working' on me, were not the thoughts I'd have expected. Here are two:

1. "Will she stay afterwards for a chat? I'm really curious why she chose this job," and
   
2. "Damn, I hate greasy lotion, especially down my pants!"

But it was a fun experience, and I'm glad to have had it. My soon-to-be-wife had a good laugh when I told her about it the next day :).

The downside to this party was the lack of sleep. I skipped a night's rest, and with a kid to look after, catching up the next day was nigh impossible.

So I'm at work now, tired as hell, but with great memories, and the afterbliss of experiencing an all-nighter again.

Just like old times...