Geekdom

This was a very odd weekend.

Saturday was the kind of hot that I both love and hate.  I love it because it means you can go outside without seventeen layers on where people are smiling and enjoying the tingly feeing of their skin cooking in the gorgeous sunshine.  I hate it because I go red and then peel.

This Saturday was different because I had somewhere to go, something to do.

My other half is an assistant ref at a LARP game called Preston By Night.  LARP, for those of you who have not come across this strange but wonderful phenomenon is Live Action Role Play.  Basically, each month a group of guys and girls meet up, dress in costumes of their own choosing and play a character.  PbN is a Vampire LARP game so the characters they play are, yes, vampires.  There is not a single Dracula or Edward (I was reliably informed that Vampires do not now, nor have they ever sparkled) and none of them talk in Eastern European accents.  They could if they wanted to – there is a German vampire, and there will probably be more in ze future.

Why do they do it?  Not because, as someone who doesn’t know any of the people said, they are ‘sad, lonely muppets who need to get a life’ but because they enjoy themselves, and as one of the new members told me he likes the idea of being able to escape the real world for a bit.  Life becomes so much more exciting if you think you are going to be attacked by a bear at any moment.

And, no, most of them are not sad or lonely.  Most have partners that encourage their hobby (if only because then they are guaranteed some ‘me’ time one a month, and there are a few partner teams who come along.  I go in an administrative capacity, and to help carry kit.  I am putting together their website so that the stories can continue and be developed in between games (known as Downtime), and I help answer the broad questions about rules and kit and things.  The refs (Neil and his best friend who created the whole shebang) answer the detailed questions and run the game.  They play Non Player Characters (NPCs) who go into the game and provide plot or information or something to fight or just mess with the characters minds a little.  All in the name of fun.

This game was very fun.  There was a possibility that it was going to be cancelled but luckily the USA did the sterling job of coming first in the group in the World Cup and Saturday became a free day again.  The sun was out and I took a book and my iPod thinking I could catch a few rays and go for a walk in the lovely town of Penwortham.  Instead I ended up answering questions about what was going on, catching people up on BIG PLOT and going through character creation.  The newbies were all very enthusiastic and wanted to get involved straight away.  I was enthusiastic for them but in my head (I swear) was going ‘pub, pub, pub’ as it was in my mind the perfect weather for sitting in a beer garden and having a cold beverage.

I love going to LARP.  I would never have the confidence to just let it all go like the players do, or run the show like the refs do but I love being around people who are enthusiastic and passionate about something.  When trying to explain it to other people I liken it to Improvised Theatre.  You have to stick to your character and the world but other than that you can do what you please.  Awesomeness.

Neil asks me constantly why I don’t tell him to quit.  My answer is always the same.  I would rather have a man who has a hobby and feels passionate enough to follow it than just watch TV and drink until he passes out every Saturday.  It makes him happy, it makes me happy.  Although I would appreciate some cupboard space that wasn’t stuffed with weapons and kit and other things.

And yes, I got me a red nose.

Today, oh today.  Woke up obscenely late as I couldn’t sleep last night.  Too bloody hot and was drifting between thirst and needing a wee the entire night!  Rubbishness is what it is and was.  It meant that I missed the F1 and only just made the match.

Should have stayed in bed.  You either know, or don’t care, about what happened.  In a nutshell.

• There was a blind linesman
• England forgot to take a defence/ England’s defenders didn’t read the rulebook on how to be a defence/they all wanted the glory and forgot to be a team
• The Germans were really fucking good.
• There was a BLIND LINESMAN

I’m not bitter.  Andy Murray is still in Wimbledon.  It feels good to be Eng… er… British.

After the football (that we don’t talk about) I made comfort food (chocolate Angel Delight) and then we took Jack for a walk down the Lancaster Canal

to the lovely Haslam Park. 

It was a sorry to the dog for me and Neil screaming at the TV and him thinking he was in trouble (he is a Rottweiler/German Shepherd and was supporting the other side) or we had gone crazy.  He became happy dog in moments

and for the humans it was a perfect way to destress after the disappointment of… the thing we don’t mention.  Jack was happy that he had a stick for a moment… before he lost it… he had a good bark at the ducks (mostly because he was grateful they weren’t his arch nemesis… swans) and then he had a few not so bad encounters with other dogs. Ever since he was attacked by the small yapper type bastard dog up the road Jack has been… what’s the world… nervous around other dogs and like to show his feeling about it.  Don’t get me wrong he’s not too happy about medium or big dogs either… but little dogs freak him out.  Which is what I had to explain to a couple of owners when Jack menacingly growled ‘please don’t hurt me’ and then hid behind my legs.

We couldn’t let him off the leash today because we had forgotten to take treats with us.  Yes, Jack is not as trained as we would like him to be but he is getting better.  I will embarrass him with terrible dog stories at another point.

But as this post is already way too long I will leave you with the hope that the next week is filled with better things.  Come on Murray!  BRITAIN expects!

No pressure.