GratiTuesday #9 & #10

Finding the positives in every day. 

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April 7 - April 13

MY JAMES HANCE ORIGINAL OF ADAM WEST BATMAN ARRIVED. It is so glorious. I'm going to hang it on my comic book originals/prints art wall but I sort of want to put it somewhere like... my bedroom. Or keep it in my bag. So I can look at it constantly. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Speaking of, my love for the Twitch show Critical Role (from the Geek & Sundry Twitch channel) continues to grow wildly. When I explain what it is to people, the general response is "... how is that entertaining?" but trust me you guys! It is! It's a weekly live stream of a game of Dungeons & Dragons played by 9 insanely talented voice actors. Stop. I can hear your eyes rolling from here. I PROMISE YOU IT IS SO GOOD. If you ever wanted a masterclass on storytelling or character building, this is it. Also, they've started playing Just Dance after the main episode and it was so funny to watch I ended up on the stream til 2am. On Friday I saw a production of the Rocky Horror Show. I'd never seen the stage version and a guy I knew from a musical we were both in a few years ago was playing Frank so I went tot check it out. HOLY CRAP it was AMAZING. Also there was a themed cocktail. The Sweet Transvestite was delish. Saturday my sister, niece and I all wore Captain Marvel shirts to take part in the Geek Walk 5k (which started with a hilarious 0.5k for all the geeks not used to physical activity. There was even a couch set up halfway through.) and that evening was Meeting #1 for AVENGERS CLUB. I set up Avengers Club as a weekly double feature screening of Marvel movies to prepare for AGE OF ULTRON! Meeting #1 included Iron Man & Thor, skipping Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk... Since it was also International Table Top Day we played some Boss Monster and Monty Python Fluxx during the films.

April 14 - April 20

Here's some awesome things that happened this week. Great Steel Magnolias rehearsals. Went to a Quarter Auction for the first time. Had a wine tasting for my sister's wedding wines. Played an awesome new game - Terra Mystica. I could talk about stuff like that. But really all I want to do is WATCH THE NEW STAR WARS TEASER AGAIN AND HOLY CRAP. It made me cry. At work. Awkward.

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GratiTuesday #5

Finding the positives in every day. 

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Tuesday March 10, 2015 - There is a special kind of happiness when you turn someone into a fan of something you LOVE. Especially when you have been dying to have someone to talk about it with. My sister finally gave in to my pleas to start listening to the My Brother, My Brother and Me and she loves it and I AM SO HAPPY.

NSFW!!

Wednesday March 11, 2015 - GETTING. SHIT. DONE.

Thursday March 12, 2015 -  Today I had an especially good thrift store haul. Some jewelry, some great books, a fantastic decorative unicorn plate...

Friday March 13, 2015 - Ended the work week with a little slumber party at my parent's with my sister & niece. 

Saturday March 14, 2015 - Today I went to a surprise party for a friend of mine. He seemed genuinely surprised so that's always fun. It was superhero/board game themed so I got to play a few games. Because of that, I got to cross off "Play 5 New Board Games" off my 30x30 list since I learned how to play Puerto Rico! Would play again!

Sunday March 15, 2015 - The pure delight of having the first BBQ (homemade) burgers of the year. SPRING, YOU ARE SO CLOSE!

Monday March 16, 2015 - ADVENTURING! After making my first ever character last week, I got to take my Half-Elf Druid on her first outing tonight. I cannot overstate how excited I am to have a D&D group to play with!

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Play along by tweeting with #BestThingToday & be sure to follow Jim's posts at Positively Jim!

Unboxing: Lootcrate - TableTop Special Edition

I LOVE tabletop games. Almost as much as I love playing them, I love watching a certain webseries hosted by Wil Wheaton. Aptly named: TableTop.  

So when the call-to-arms went out that they needed viewers' support to fund their third season, I was definitely in. I donated to their indiegogo campaign at the "Lootcrate" level and waited patiently for the episodes and my box of surprise goodies. 

I was not disappointed by either.  

The goodies!!! 

Dice cup and some TableTop dice.  

A TableTop deck of cards & marker.  

A little notepad and some pencils.  

Special TableTop themed Cards Against Humanity cards! 

A TableTop... Flag? Cape? I THINK IT'S A CAPE

Wheaton bobble budd! 

I've been seeing a few people who are disappointed in the box, but I am not at all. I was not "purchasing" a Lootcrate. I gave my money so that there could be a new season of TableTop.  Seriously people, they needed the money for the production. There's no way they could make the contents of the box "equal" to the amount of your DONATION.

Ah well. You can't please everyone. But you can please some. And I was pleased.

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You've never seen TableTop and you have no idea what I am going on about? Check out this video from this season where they played my current favourite game: Dead of Winter! (Then check out all the others)

GratiTuesday #2

Finding the positives in every day. 

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Tuesday February 17, 2015 - A great mail day! Got some amazing goodies from The Tiny Hobo and the "Gamer Nouveau" t-shirt from TeeFury.

I spy my uniform for this year's Extra Life marathon!

Wednesday February 18, 2015 - One of my favourite artists, James Hance, had an insane sale. He would list an original piece of art on his Facebook page and the first person to message him would get it for $100. !!! The first thing he posted at 9am this morning was a framed 10x12 graphite/watercolour/watercolour pencil piece of Adam West's Batman. Since I'm posting about it right now, I think you can guess who nabbed it! I told him I'd love to have it if he was able to ship to Canada and he said yes- for $5! FIVE DOLLARS! For a FRAMED piece! $105 total for a framed original!!! Losing my mind!!! 

I MEAN SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THIS!

Thursday February 19, 2015 - Had a great Steel Magnolias rehearsal at thr coffee shop. I'm working my way through all the specialty lattes, haha! The Great Northern (maple syrup latte) was SO GOOD. When I got home, I got myself completely caught up on Sailor Moon Crystal. I think it's the only show I am  up to date on right now!

Friday February 20, 2015 - Game night! Is there anything better than having some drinks with friends and playing some games? Many, many laughs were had.

Saturday February 21, 2015 - Turkey pot pie. Enough said. (Thanks dad!)

Sunday February 22, 2015 - We had a "social night" for Steel Magnolias so the cast could get to know each other. Great ladies, great wine, great food, great rehearsal. I also caught the tail end of the Oscars, so I got to to see this...

Monday February 23, 2015 - I managed to secure the donation for a project that I was hoping for & found out that two of my favourite comedians, Debra DiGiovanni & Mark Forward, are coming to town!

Great week!

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Play along by tweeting with #BestThingToday & be sure to follow Jim's posts at Positively Jim!

27 before 27: Munchkin

On October 20, 2012 I participated in my third year of Extra Life. Extra Life is a 24 hour gaming marathon that raises money for Children's Miracle Network hospitals. This year I decided to incorporate board games into my usually 100% video game schedule to give my old eyes a break from the glare of computer and tv screens. Let me tell you it was the BEST IDEA EVER. I got to try out a bunch of new games that I've been wanting to play like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and most excitingly MUNCHKIN.

Playing Munchkin just happens to be one of my 27 things I want to do before I turn 27.

I first heard about Munchkin YEARS ago. Five to be exact. I was watching an episode of the Totally Rad Show where they were playing the game and I thought it looked amazing. I immediately bought Super Munchkin but quickly discovered that none of my friends were "into that sort of thing".

Flash forward 5 years and my current group of friends is all about board games! FINALLY!

I've become addicted to a web show called Tabletop. It's basically just Wil Wheaton with various celebrity friends playing a different board game every week. Queue the Munchkin episode.

My interest is piqued all over again. I order Munchkin Deluxe, which they played in the episode.

Admittedly, it does sit in its package for about 2 months but finally on that fine Saturday afternoon (and again at 7am the next morning) MUNCHKIN WAS PLAYED.

AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!