Holiday Diary

[karohemd]

Holiday Diary - Departure

Got up at the ungodly hour of 2:45, got ready, had breakfast while watching Young Frankenstein and went off to the bus station by taxi. Bus journey to Stansted was OK and easy. Arrived at Stansted with plenty of time which I used to play around with the GURPS char generator. Very cool little app. You can download a demo version from the Steve Jackson Games site. Cheers xambrius for the link.

Plane departed on time. Surprisingly good coffee and a sticky Danish pastry were served. Reasonable good weather over England so I actually saw other things but clouds. The Channel was pretty much in clouds, though. The approach to Amsterdam is quite impressive as you fly over the harbour first, then a little bit of outskirts and finally the airport.
The airport itself is quiet, clean and easy to navigate. Good thing I'm not robinbloke, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to resist the DVD bargains ;o)

Found my departure gate but shuffled upstairs again as there were only plastic seats. I have another half hour to kill before boarding, so I will probably make some notes on the Discworld scenario I'm intending to run on the weekend.

I dozed off instead and closed my eyes a bit. Again, an easy flight and the plane arrived in Nuremberg on time. Perfect timing as well, when I came out of the arrivals gate, my mum had just arrived and was searching the screens for my flight.

The sun was out in full and the stupid fan/aircon in my parents' car had broken down so it was a rather hot drive home.

Stopped by the hospital to visit gran. She looked really old and weak and was sleeping so heavily not even my strong voice could wake her. I'll be going along with my dad tonight to see if she'll be awake then. She was awake this morning, even talking a bit, so I'm hopeful I'll be able to speak to her either before I leave or before she passes away.
I do sincerely hope this will be over rather quickly, she has lost her will to live, she's on harsh painkillers and there are basically no chances of improvement. I'd rather she die in relative peace now than drag on endlessly...

On to more fun matters, I can now listen to the CDs I left behind as I have my laptop with me. Later tonight I'll try to connect to the internet to download emails and upload this.

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Oh dear

I just had a hilarious scenario idea for GURPS Discworld: Ankh-Morpork by Night.
*grins* *rubs hands*
Now, which way around should I do it? Have the PCs as the City Watch run into Vampires or PC Vampires do their thing? I think I'll do the first, the second will draw too many Munchkins.
Foul murder in the Shades, bodies found drained

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Buggeration

The phone adapter won't work. Bastards. Hope I can get a refund.

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Slept like a log for a bit and then set up my laptop. My old HP520 printer would still work if the ink hadn't dried up. Need to check if I get a refill kit in town tomorrow.
Had dinner, tried to call some friends who had all been out, started on the Discworld scenario, watched some TV and went back to the scenario. Found out that you can't save the characters created with the demo version of the GURPS character builder, so I'll have to use pen and paper again. Grrr.
Starting on the 'ling National photos instead.

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Feeling empty

My gran died this morning, she didn't wake up again.
At least I saw her yesterday while she was still alive. I could see that it wouldn't be long and I expected it sooner rather than later.

Still, a person who has meant a lot to me in my life is gone. It'll probably take a while to register completely. Over the last couple of years, whenever we said goodbye, she kept saying that it might be the last time we spoke and I always assured her that it wouldn't.

I'm a bit miffed at my parents who didn't wake me up when they got the news this morning and went to the wake without me. They wanted to spare me the experience which might have been a good thing but I still would have wanted to come along, to see her one last time before the coffin was closed. Then again, she'll always be alive in my memories.

She didn't wake up when I was at her bed yesterday but maybe she noticed subconsciously. Knowing her, I think she held on until I managed to be there.

The funeral will be on Tuesday, when I will still be here. I can say goodbye then.

Anna Margarete Beck, Gretl for short, has always been a wonderful woman, always kind, never an angry word and full of advice. What I'm really glad about is that she was mentally fit and strong til her second stroke early this year. She loved doing crosswords, the more complicated the better and was reading a lot and not easy stuff, either.

Thankfully, I'll be meeting up with an old mate in the afternoon and with loads of friends over the weekend. This should keep me sane. I know that my parents won't object to me going to have fun and I really need it. I think if I stayed home, I would break up.

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Friday after lunch I set off to Nuremberg, trawled around the shops a bit and picked up 10 CDs (mostly In Extremo and Dead Can Dance). I found my regular gaming store had been shut down and will be replaced by an adult store soon. Their sales had gone down and they now only do mail order (a bit like Otherworld Games in Cambridge). Wanted to have an espresso at my favourite Italian restaurant but it was shut as well, looked like it's either being refurbished or maybe it changed owners.
Made my way to the other gaming store left and picked up the expansion for Munchkin, a card game, the Hack card game, and - naturally - some dice.
Then I went to a friends' house where I would stay for the night. Had an icecream coffee, chatted and played a silly boardgame with my friends and their little son. We wanted to have dinner at a Greek restaurant but that had shut down as well, so we went to a Chinese place instead which turned out to be a brilliant choice. I had a "fire duck", spicy, roast duck on veg with a garlic/spring onion sauce. Very very nice.
Back home I played a bit with my friends' sun who seems more and more like Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame). He's not only blond but also the same age as Calvin and has the same livid and weird imagination.

Played FLUXX for a bit and then crashed out.

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Saturday

Got up at 8:30, had muesli for breakfast and set off for the con. Got there and met up with old friends. Signed up for a big three group Aeon/Trinity game in the afternoon and just lounged about chatting with friends.
The game session started later in the afternoon and involved the group I was in of ex-Aeon employees on a mission from god, er, to uncover a consipiracy. The plot was quite convoluted and involved an AI we were supposed to rescue (I received an emergency call).
It all went horribly wrong when the groups that were supposed to work together in the end ended up pretty much killing each other instead in the end. One group was the bionetics firm we had been fired from/left, the other was the evil mother company Aeon Trinity, not someone us extremely paranoid conspiracy theorists would trust. On top of that, my mentor was killed in a firefight with the evil FSA...
The session lasted til past 4 in the morning, as usual, only to be disrupted by the odd fag/food break.
Reasonable roleplaying and much fun.

Sunday

Crashed out in my parents' car afterwards as it was too bright inside because people were still gaming. I guess I had about 4 hours of sleep max as traffic outside meant constant waking up again. Went back inside to have breakfast and finished off my Discworld scenario.
First, there was nobody on the list and suddenly I had more players I could cope with as I only had six pregenned chars and didn't want the group to be any bigger as I knew it would be chaotic.
In short, the PCs pretty much ignored the plot and did their own thing, which I always encourage. Biggest kudos goes to Floh, who played an Igor.
We stopped playing after the PCs had annihilated each other (the Troll being the only one surviving the fire laid by the pyromaniac Uberwaldian) at about 3 in the afternoon. Played a little FLUXX (fast and fun card game), chatted and relaxed.

There was the usual end ceremony with price giving for cool roleplaying (I got one ;o), the best GM, the most unusual system and the best/funniest character death.

Said goodbye to old and new friends, promising to meet again next year at the latest.

Drove my friend home and then headed off home. The journey was uneventful and I cruised along merrily at an average speed of about 95 miles an hour ;o) I just had to concentrate really hard in the end as not even Pro Plus would keep me awake properly.

Got home, had dinner, chatted with parents, downloaded photos, listened to some of the CDs I had bought and wrote this.

Bed and sleep now.

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Monday
A lazy day with reading, eating, sleeping, editing photos and watching TV.


Tuesday
The day of the funeral. It was a quiet affair at the crematorium only with the closest family. And if the sky was crying as well, it started to rain after the ceremony.
It was easier than I thought it would be. I guess it's because I have been expecting it to happen since January. It's a great loss but at the same time a great relief as well, both for my gran and us.


I want more holiday
There's an open air festival and medieval market at a castle in the Nuremberg area on the 13th. Headliners: Deine Lakaien (Probably THE German Wave/Goth band), Apoptygma Berzerk and Apokalyptica (metal with cellos). There's another festival a week later with In Extremo and other medieval/folk fusion bands.
*sobs*

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Nothing really interesting to report for the rest of the week, except Friday night. Met up with Stefan, my "bestest" mate to go out. The poor bloke had just been dumped by his girlfriend and needed some distraction so we headed off to Hof, the next "city" (about 150K people). First to a nice pub for food, then to "Rockwerk", the only decent club type thing for rock music in our area. I just had to laugh at the entry (3 quid) and drink prices (1.50 for a half litre bottle of beer) but then it's the end of the world ;o)
Reasonably varied music, though, a lot of stuff I didn't know, the Nu Rock set was a bit tedious but OK. Just as things seemed to get better again (The KLF came on), we had to leave as both my mate (who was driving) and myself had to get up early in the morning.

Got home at 3, fell into bed, tossed about a bit until the adrenaline had gone and fell asleep only to be rudely awoken by the alarm at 8:30. Got up, had a strong cup of coffee and a large Nutella baguette for breakfast and head off to Nuremberg with my parents in their motorhome. The journey was uneventful and we made to the airport in time. Bought some supplies for work (Kinder chocolate), and headed to my gate. Had to switch on the laptop at baggage check but obviously no problems.
On the plane to Amsterdam was possibly the most obviously gay male flight attendant I've seen. Think Julian Clarey with dark hair and a properly coloured suit. ;o)
Arrived in Amsterdam ahead of schedule, lounged about a bit, had a rather nice espresso and read some Sandman. Waiting for the boarding call to Stansted now.
Uneventful flight to Stansted, waited ages for my luggage but was lucky that the bus was still there.

Knackered now.