Non-Gaming Stories

My Guinea Pig post from the other day got me to thinking about a set of pets from my childhood. I forget how old I was at the time but one year, while my brothers and I were small (I estimate that I was maybe 8 years old), we received hamsters for Christmas. Given the holiday, we chose Yuletide-themed names - Jingles, Jangles, and Noel. Jangles was my hamster. At the end of the first evening, I said "good night" went to bed and by the time I woke up the next morning my hamster had died. Being a young child I was distraught. My parents went back to the store and purchased a replacement hamster. I do not remember the name I gave to Hamster Number Two but it only lasted about a week before passing on to the Great Wheel in the Sky. Hamster #3's name has also been lost to the ravages of time ("Charcoal" sounds like it could be right) but it survived a whole year before dying. I had very limited contact with the animals and I promise that I d...

There I was, navigating the nearly abandoned thoroughfares of an all but forgotten mercantile center.  This derelict temple dedicated to American Consumerism had been reduced to a sparse handful of retailers struggling to keep the crumbling edifice alive.  My footfalls echoed off of hard tiles that had been polished to a near mirror sheen by the endless laps of elderly walkers shuffling along like zombies and futile attempts to stave off their own deaths. Window frames filled with dusty glass provided hazy views into the vacant emporiums as I strode by.  A lone bird that had somehow been trapped inside fluttered past - the only other living thing I had seen since entering the ruin. I rounded a corner in the plaza and saw it off in the distance - bolted to the wall, an atavistic feature even in this relic of a shopping center - a pay phone. This anachronistic bygone had been forced into obscurity by its evolutionary descendants and nearly legislated out o...

Way back on June 2nd of this year, my wife and I were driving through Missouri . We stopped for gas and Road snacks at the T-Ref Mart in Lathrop. Within, we made a glorious discovery... the T-Rex Chomper. This simple snack is, to the untrained eye, a dill pickle spear wrapped in a slice of ham. We nearly purchased this seemingly divine culinary delight, refraining only when she remembered the Potential Threat of Listeria lunchmeat poses to pregnant women and unborn babies. We spent two and a half months haunted by this decision (especially since we learned that the threat is so small that it barely constitutes a threat at all). We made our own at home with slices of Black Forest Ham, Jalapeños, and Dill or bread and butter pickles but thoughts of the Real T-Rex Chompers continued to taunt us. Until last night... Last night we once again found ourselves at the T-Rex Mart in Lathrop. I picked and purchased a four pack of Chompers. I popped the lid,...

I picked up a set of Story Dice at Target for just a buck last Friday night. For those of you who don't know, Story Dice are a set of dice with pictures on them that are used to get a story or conversation started. You roll the dice and then make up a story (a sentence or two is fine) based on the images that appear. This particular set consists of four six-sided dice (4d6) with pictures of various camping-related things, animals, and activities - a tent, a pop-up trailer, trees, a bear, S'mores and so on. Some businesses use them as a tool to teach improved collaboration or as a "warm up" for creative meetings. Me? I encourage nonsensical combinations. For example, a roll of... resulted in... "On a cloudy camping trip, I wrestled a squirrel for S'mores." became, "When I was camping, I took my canoe out to look at the clouds when a pine cone hit me in the head." Then there was...

Today while driving, as I watched that long thin ribbon of asphalt trailing off into seeming infinity beneath a broad cloudy expanse of blue sky, I was struck with a sense of just how BIG the world really is and found myself pondering a Great Question of the Age... is the Square Wrap from Holiday just a Pretentious Burrito? Before I delve into the particulars of that question, I feel as though I should tell you that my means of employment and lifestyle in general have resulted in a disproportionate percentage of my nutritional sustenance coming from gas stations. One might even go so far as to say that I am a Gas Station Food Connoisseur. Square Wraps from Holiday are one of my favorite foods - the blending of sausage, cheese, egg, and peppers wrapped in a flour tortilla has Never Failed to satisfy my hunger or bring joy to my tastebuds placing it firmly in the Breakfast of Champions category. But, is it pretentious? Does it have Delusions of Grandeur? A...

I originally posted this as a status on Facebook about four years ago and thought I would reshare it with all of you today. Enjoy! - - - - - This morning I woke up, rolled out of bed and began my long slow stagger to the bathroom with my toothbrush in hand.  I opened the door to my room, stepped out and closed it behind me so the cats would not think that I was allowing them in for a visit since my closet is The Most Fascinating Place on Earth as far as cats are concerned. It was a needless gesture because both of the boys, Rapey and Prometheus, were sitting side-by-side in front of the sliding glass door, enraptured by something that was going on outside.  My curiosity was piqued and I paused to join them in their observation. I was treated to a majestic scene transpiring in the backyard, just beyond the chain link fence.  A baby deer, dappled with the white spots of his youth was nursing from his mother.  There was a sense of subdued wonder, warmth in the air...

Monday morning, my wife and I woke up at a rest stop on the western outskirts of Joplin, Missouri. A quick consultation of Google Maps revealed that we were, in theory, about 5 hours from our destination. It also revealed that we were less than five-minutes from the Tri-State Area ! (Oops... I meant this one ). I'm talking about that spot on the map where Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma meet. I was excited and thought that this would be a cool thing to see. I also expected that this Particular Point of Geographic Synchronicity to be a Pretty Big Deal. ... ... Turns out, not so much. At the end of what looks like a gravel driveway there is a pile of stones that have been mortared together. Off to one side, there is what looks like a manhole cover. The rock pile had four smooth rectangles where commemorative plaques (most likely) of some sort had once been mounted. Only graffiti remains. I was crestfallen. My wife and I climbed...