Just got back from visiting Gen Con in Milwaukee (that's the big role-playing game convention). Never in my life have I muttered to myself the title of this thread. I said it everythime I laid eyes on some 500-lb gamer with a pony tail (seriously, I watch a lot of wrestling, and these guys were 500-pounders)(and there were quite a few of them to boot). I said it when I saw the guy with a keyboard slung around his neck, with the connection cord running up to behind his ear (duct taped on) - apparently some sort of "cyberpunk" aficionado. i pretty much said everytime I passed the folks who think they're vampires. However, I am not dissing the geeks here, Just about everyone there (myself included) was a geek in some way, and that's A-OK. But man, some people you could tell were just around the corner, in terms of either mental or physical health. I went to participate in a game my freinds put on, they created their own system and I was there to support them in debuting it to new folks. But, the whole exhibit hall was alot of fun, I'll have to admit. Gamers/geeks have a pretty refreshing and biting sense of humor. For example, I should've gotten this t-shirt that was for sale there: A yellow Pikachu-looking thing, except with a face full of tentacles, and the caption "Pokethulu: Gotta catch you all". There were a lot of good Cthulhu jokes, actually, such as the Cthulhu fish i bought for the back of my car. That way trumps a Darwin fish. Other funny things: Bumper stickers such as "FREE TIBET (with weapon systems purchase)", and "Vote Cthulhu 2000: Why settle for the lesser evil?" I guess Anthony Daniels was there, and i saw the woman who played a new bounty hunter in SW Ep. I, who's on screen for all of three seconds during the pod racing scene (the tall grey skinned alien babe with a shaved head, except for a long red topknot, on a balcony overlooking the race). Apparently she has quite a cult following. I also stumbled across a booth and there was one of my all-time favorite comic book artists/creators, Phil Foglio, so I geeked out and bought a set of Buck Godot comics from him that I was unaware existed. That was pretty cool. I happened to be wearing the only shirt I own that is related to gaming, and that's a "What's New?" shirt, from the comic column Foglio had about gaming in Dragon magazine back in the 80's. Apparently I was one of three people who had showed up at his booth wearing a shirt with his art on it, so he was pleased. Man I'm a geek. But at least I'm not a 500-lb vampire geek with a keyboard duct-taped to his head.

oh sem, hang on! i'll be there wednesday!!! was it really duct-taped to his head?

You want geeks? I beat Diablo II yesterday. But only because I sneakily downloaded a mod that let me build my own character, so of course I gave her 6000 points to life. I started out a barbarian, then I played as an amazon until level 21 (she's still in Act II), and then I found the mod. Made myself a level 30 sorceress with tons of money, life, gold, stamina, and every skill at level 20. But I don't feel bad that I cheated because I don't play for the enjoyment of playing...I play to find out what happens at the ends of the quests. I don't care how I get there, I just want to get to the end to see what it's like. I was kind of disappointed. And also, I really don't see how anyone could survive the last level. There were just too many guys to kill. I was a sorceress who used inferno on the left mouse button and nova on the right, and it was still hard to get them all. Nova just totally rocks. If you're ever a sorceress, learn this skill.

PS. Sem, you have nothing to worry about.

i wanna play games.

I got started playing Shogun: Total War last night at 7 pm and quit, having conquered all rivaling clans, at 4:30 this morning. Tonight I'll go for 'hard' difficulty. :) We geeks are computer-game pushovers. Spider: a great sorceress combo for those nasties in hell is blizzard/static field. when a clot of enemies comes after you, cast 3-4 blizzards and run 1 screen away. They'll all be frozen/slowed moving through the blizzrd so you can hit them with a bunch of static fields when they come in range, and the damage from the blizzard or a quick nova will finish them off. That's how my lvl. 79 sorceress became baroness apparissa.

Games Schmames. Bah!

Chacos, baby. Chacos.

There are geeks in all areas where fans gather. We went to the F1 Grand Prix at Nurburgring in Germany. Ok, so we purchased some Ferrari gear - tshirts, a cap, jacket (it was raining and someone stole our suitcase before we got there) and a flag (which also helped keep the rain off). There were some seriously sad individuals who were wearing full ferrari flame proof drivers overalls, boots, etc. The only thing they were missing was the helmet. They probably had about as much chance of _driving_ an F1 Ferrari as my cat! Plus, at the hostel in Bonn there were a bunch of Trekkies attending a convention in town. They showed up for breakfast in full garb, mostly STTNG uniforms. They hit on the american girls soccer team that were on their way to some tournament in Frankfurt! It was funny <g>! The american girls were really annoying - non stop complaining because it wasn't like home. Why bother travelling if you want everything to be the same as home?

I know exactly what you mean about why bother travelling if you want everything like home.I had a great time in Costa Rica,when we got back I subscribe to the Tico Times and some jackass had wrote a letter to the editor about what a miserable time he had there.He said he was thinking of retiring there,but now he wouldn't.I thought to myself right then he was just some asshole who probably acted the ugly American.Did they ever find your luggage?

I don't like travelling to countries whose inhabitants have ideas about etiquette that are vastly different from mine. I feel like I have no idea how to act without offending someone.

I don't get tipping. How does that work? Its one of the scary things about going to the US. We don't do it in NZ. When I went to Bali we had a neat tour guide who explained to us how to barter down items and that we couldnt go to certain temples and what to wear in the ones we could go to and that was really good. I guess that the whole etiquette thing is why guide books sell so well.

Tipping doesn't make any sense. It used to be done if you thought someone did a particularly good job... Now you're an asshole if you don't tip, and even more of an asshole if you tip poorly.

Moonit,it is usually 15% for good service,20% for exceptional service.No tipping in Costa Rica either,I liked that.

for food. they're tipping rules for everything. bell hops get $1 per bag.

We went to a steak resteraunt recently and spend $75 on 3 steaks that were not all that good. Tacked onto the bill was a $25 "gratuaty charge".

wtf. did you refuse it?

No, I did not notice it until after i got the reciept, and on the way home I though "why the hell did I get charged $95 bucks for 3 steaks and 3 drinks?" and there it was, hidden in between other items

and you call yourself a capitalist. tsk.

Actually he's into "capitilism"...I think it's got something to do with squishing caterpilars or sumpin.

if i ever meet you, i will eat you.

If only Ms Cat hadn't gone off in a hissy fit...she would no doubt have something incredibly sassy and witty and fascinating to say like: "eat hot fuck, Nate mate".

Yeah, friend of Cat's. What was that all about? Rough day down under?