Wasn't it? I mean, I was stuck in nosebleed, but it was really nice. Honestly, though, I wouldn't repeat it. It was hot, the people were sweaty and smelly, and fan girls were screaming in my ears.
Anyway, the tabletop room was rocking today. I'll copypasta my boo-yah of the day.
So I played my first four games of Settlers of Catan EVER today. In a tournament. I made it through all four rounds and placed fourth out of 16. Everyone else that had played before.
^_^
Here were my scores: Round 1: 9 points (second place) - I got the two free roads card early and used it to get the Longest road Round 2: 3 points (last place) - Oh man what a terrible setup. Round 3: 6 points (Third place) - Good game. I was set for second, but then one of the guys revealed that he has two Victory point cards face down and jumped to 7 points. Round 4: 9 Points (Tied for second) - Oh man this was one epic game. I used everything I learned from all the previous rounds and it was a knock down drag it out battle among the four of us.
If you are at Anime Expo, you gotta stop by these guys' booth and check out their photo and video enhancement software. You know how in CSI and other shows of the like they can "enhance" really pixelated photos? This software does that and so much more.
I bought their whole software suite for $160-ish dollars and, based on the demonstrations, totally worth it. 30 day no questions asked refund if you don't like it. If purchased after the con it's around $480.
If you are at Anime Expo, you gotta stop by these guys' booth and check out their photo and video enhancement software. You know how in CSI and other shows of the like they can "enhance" really pixelated photos? This software does that and so much more.
I bought their whole software suite for $160-ish dollars and, based on the demonstrations, totally worth it. 30 day no questions asked refund if you don't like it. If purchased after the con it's around $480.
Wow, that's really cool. Aren't they the ones that use an algorithm to predict what the "enhanced" photo would look like and then fill in the artifact areas based on that? That definitely sounds worth the money.
Based on the demonstration, yeah, looks like. The other two plugins that caught my eye was the masking plugin and some other plugin that he used to take a pretty much unusably underexposed photo of a plate of food and fix it so it looked like a perfectly shot picture. It was amazing.
Also, unlimited installs for the key.
EDIT: Ah. Well, looks like I wont be coming tomorrow. Still, it was great meeting you in person, Alex. Sail, this meeting up only once or twice a year thing has to stop.
Hey Alex, if you're reading this, sorry I wasn't able to catch you last weekend. It was a pretty weird four days for me and I ended up having to blow off a lot of commitments I had previously made, so I just wanted to apologize.
Saturday was a day of buying. Of my $40 budget, I had spent none of it on useless things like food and water, opting to, instead, carry those on my back. No. My money was to be put towards the dealers room!
Roaming the aisles of the exposition hall, my ears perked up as I heard an announcement over the P.A. system of the convention center.
"Attention convention attendees: If you have left a package in the Compass Cafe', please report to *mumble mumble* to pick it up. Again, If you have left a package in the Compass Cafe', please report to *mumble mumble* to pick it up."
I felt a slight tingle run down my spine, but shrugged it off, and continued in browsing the wares in the artists alley.
A little while later, I felt the buzz of my cell phone telling me that it's almost time for the Settlers of Catan Tournament and started heading towards the exit of the dealers room. But as I got closer, I noticed that most of the foot traffic was walking parallel to the doors, rather than through them. Getting closer still, I found out why; every door, except for two sets on the far end of that wall, was closed and blocked by two convention center employees each. Not Anime Expo Staff. Convention Center Employees.
Another shiver traced a line down my back. "There's that damn feeling again," I thought.
I approached one of the employees, "Can you tell me what's going on here? Why are these doors closed?" "I'm sorry, but a portion of the South Hall has been closed temporarily." "When did this happen?" "Just a few minutes ago." "Why?" "I don't know. If you want to leave this hall, you can go down that way and leave via Hall G."
I thanked him and headed down Hall G and to the escalators that led to the South Hall. On the ride down, I noticed that more than just "a portion" of it was closed off. Almost three quarters of it, including the compass cafe and every interior entrance from the west hall, was completely cut off by police safety tape. Along the interior of the perimeter were several police officers as well as the convention center security personnel.
"Hm?"
As I stepped off the escalator, I walked along the perimeter, trying to see what I could, but it was absolutely empty. I put two and two together. "No one must have picked up the package, so they closed off this area in case it's a bomb or something."
Taking out my sharpie and a flier I had folder up earlier, I approached one of the police officers. "Excuse me, officer, but what's going on here?" "This area is closed off for now." "But what happened?" "We don't have any information at this time." "Does this have anything to do with the lost package announcement that was made earlier?" "I'm sorry, but I don't have any information to give you. I'm going to have to ask you to move along; you're blocking traffic."
I moved away and hung back away from the blocked area. I weighed my options: wait and see what happens or go to the settlers tournament. I decided to stay and it was a good thing I did. Moving to a different part of the tape line, I waited and listened to the conversations of the people on the other side. My patience paid off; In a few minutes, a scraggly looking approached the line maybe 5-10 feet from me.
Another tingle shot down my spine and gave me goosebumps, "What the hell is that?"
When the police approached him, he told them he lost a backpack. When they asked him for me details, by their reactions, it looked like he correctly identified it. They quickly let him through the line and walked him out of another exit. Not being able to push through the mob near the door to follow them from a distance, I retreated to the line and asked one of the police officers the man talked to. Coincidentally, it was the officer I had spoken to before.
"Excuse me-" "Oh, it's you again." "Yeah, anyway, that man the other officer took away, was he able to correctly identify the backpack?" "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." I cocked an eyebrow, "That man-" "Yes." "Was it his bag?" "I'm afraid I can't tell you anything." I was getting pretty indignant, "Can I get a statement from you?" "A statement?" "Yes, a statement," I took out my sharpie and got ready to write, "Was that man the officer just escorted past the police line have anything to do with the lost package announcement that caused the cordoning off of this area? Was he able to correctly identify the backpack as describe by him as being a burgundy and black backpack?" "Who the hell are you?" "Is that your statement, Officer (something or another)?" He sighed, "This is currently the scene of an active investigation. I can give no comment at this time." He prattled off the line monotonously. "Thank you. And your badge number is (###)?" "Correct." "Thank you."
As I walked away, I heard him mutter under his breath, "Damn reporters."
And then it hit me. That was what the feeling was! Instead of a spidey sense or a kancho sense, that tingling sensation was my journalism sense!
Long story short, it ended up being that guy's bag and the area was opened back up fairly shortly, just in time for me to get to and place fourth at the Settlers of Catan tournament.
Hey Alex, if you're reading this, sorry I wasn't able to catch you last weekend. It was a pretty weird four days for me and I ended up having to blow off a lot of commitments I had previously made, so I just wanted to apologize.
Totally fine. Sonic came over on Saturday for board games; maybe we can make the same thing happen soon.
I'm conflicted. I don't know whether I should start singing "Sail and Sonic sitting in a tree" or just scream "HOMOGAY" very loudly and for a prolonged time. One of them should get the fujoshi in.
Comments
Honestly, though, I wouldn't repeat it. It was hot, the people were sweaty and smelly, and fan girls were screaming in my ears.
Anyway, the tabletop room was rocking today. I'll copypasta my boo-yah of the day. Here were my scores:
Round 1: 9 points (second place) - I got the two free roads card early and used it to get the Longest road
Round 2: 3 points (last place) - Oh man what a terrible setup.
Round 3: 6 points (Third place) - Good game. I was set for second, but then one of the guys revealed that he has two Victory point cards face down and jumped to 7 points.
Round 4: 9 Points (Tied for second) - Oh man this was one epic game. I used everything I learned from all the previous rounds and it was a knock down drag it out battle among the four of us.
Oh, I ran into Jeff at tabletop.
I bought their whole software suite for $160-ish dollars and, based on the demonstrations, totally worth it. 30 day no questions asked refund if you don't like it. If purchased after the con it's around $480.
Also, unlimited installs for the key.
EDIT: Ah. Well, looks like I wont be coming tomorrow. Still, it was great meeting you in person, Alex. Sail, this meeting up only once or twice a year thing has to stop.
So let me tell you a story about Anime Expo 2011.
Saturday was a day of buying. Of my $40 budget, I had spent none of it on useless things like food and water, opting to, instead, carry those on my back. No. My money was to be put towards the dealers room!
Roaming the aisles of the exposition hall, my ears perked up as I heard an announcement over the P.A. system of the convention center.
"Attention convention attendees: If you have left a package in the Compass Cafe', please report to *mumble mumble* to pick it up. Again, If you have left a package in the Compass Cafe', please report to *mumble mumble* to pick it up."
I felt a slight tingle run down my spine, but shrugged it off, and continued in browsing the wares in the artists alley.
A little while later, I felt the buzz of my cell phone telling me that it's almost time for the Settlers of Catan Tournament and started heading towards the exit of the dealers room. But as I got closer, I noticed that most of the foot traffic was walking parallel to the doors, rather than through them. Getting closer still, I found out why; every door, except for two sets on the far end of that wall, was closed and blocked by two convention center employees each. Not Anime Expo Staff. Convention Center Employees.
Another shiver traced a line down my back. "There's that damn feeling again," I thought.
I approached one of the employees, "Can you tell me what's going on here? Why are these doors closed?"
"I'm sorry, but a portion of the South Hall has been closed temporarily."
"When did this happen?"
"Just a few minutes ago."
"Why?"
"I don't know. If you want to leave this hall, you can go down that way and leave via Hall G."
I thanked him and headed down Hall G and to the escalators that led to the South Hall. On the ride down, I noticed that more than just "a portion" of it was closed off. Almost three quarters of it, including the compass cafe and every interior entrance from the west hall, was completely cut off by police safety tape. Along the interior of the perimeter were several police officers as well as the convention center security personnel.
"Hm?"
As I stepped off the escalator, I walked along the perimeter, trying to see what I could, but it was absolutely empty. I put two and two together.
"No one must have picked up the package, so they closed off this area in case it's a bomb or something."
Taking out my sharpie and a flier I had folder up earlier, I approached one of the police officers.
"Excuse me, officer, but what's going on here?"
"This area is closed off for now."
"But what happened?"
"We don't have any information at this time."
"Does this have anything to do with the lost package announcement that was made earlier?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't have any information to give you. I'm going to have to ask you to move along; you're blocking traffic."
I moved away and hung back away from the blocked area. I weighed my options: wait and see what happens or go to the settlers tournament.
I decided to stay and it was a good thing I did. Moving to a different part of the tape line, I waited and listened to the conversations of the people on the other side. My patience paid off; In a few minutes, a scraggly looking approached the line maybe 5-10 feet from me.
Another tingle shot down my spine and gave me goosebumps, "What the hell is that?"
When the police approached him, he told them he lost a backpack. When they asked him for me details, by their reactions, it looked like he correctly identified it. They quickly let him through the line and walked him out of another exit. Not being able to push through the mob near the door to follow them from a distance, I retreated to the line and asked one of the police officers the man talked to. Coincidentally, it was the officer I had spoken to before.
"Excuse me-"
"Oh, it's you again."
"Yeah, anyway, that man the other officer took away, was he able to correctly identify the backpack?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
I cocked an eyebrow, "That man-"
"Yes."
"Was it his bag?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything."
I was getting pretty indignant, "Can I get a statement from you?"
"A statement?"
"Yes, a statement," I took out my sharpie and got ready to write, "Was that man the officer just escorted past the police line have anything to do with the lost package announcement that caused the cordoning off of this area? Was he able to correctly identify the backpack as describe by him as being a burgundy and black backpack?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"Is that your statement, Officer (something or another)?"
He sighed, "This is currently the scene of an active investigation. I can give no comment at this time." He prattled off the line monotonously.
"Thank you. And your badge number is (###)?"
"Correct."
"Thank you."
As I walked away, I heard him mutter under his breath, "Damn reporters."
And then it hit me. That was what the feeling was! Instead of a spidey sense or a kancho sense, that tingling sensation was my journalism sense!
Long story short, it ended up being that guy's bag and the area was opened back up fairly shortly, just in time for me to get to and place fourth at the Settlers of Catan tournament.
And that's how I earned my cutie mark.