Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2014-09-21 03:11 am
azurelunatic) wrote2014-09-21 03:11 am
Belated Thanksgiving entry from last year, found lurking in my drafts file.
17:56 2013-11-29
THE STORY OF THANKSGIVING IS A SCIENCE-FICTION STORY, by Scott Alexander
Thanksgiving! (Thanksgayming)
As is becoming startlingly frequent for me, halfassed my Thanksgiving plans, but had a lovely time.
Figured the Gaymers would be up for something, and there were pre-existing plans that I cheerfully attached myself to. In particular, jld had a very tasty broccoli casserole recipe that would be impractical to get to the South Bay on a bike. So I turned out to be 15 minutes early for our agreed-upon pickup time, after getting a spot of gas. The ride down 280 was really scenic. We caught up a bit.
We were early enough with the light traffic to cruise around some of the new construction, and then be among the first arrivals. We watched Archer for a bit. There were kitchen carryings-on. There was chatter.
Food. Hilarity, the sort that floats over the surface of the mind, leaving behind it just a feeling of deep well-being. YouTube and Chromecast-based fun. There was a large and comfortable couch. Due to a later card "haiku", the couch may henceforth be known as "Fuck Mountain". At many points of the day it was piled high with snuggling dudes. Innuendo aside (and there was a lot of it) all the snuggling was G-rated that I could see.
There were two cool tech bits of the day. First, and niftiest: the aforementioned Chromecast linked to our host's TV, which let various people on the local network enqueue videos to play on the big screen. This did include cat videos. This is, assithjawa observed, how the internet parties. The main failure mode was that basically everybody shared immediately (kicking off the current video) at least once. It sounds like the app needs a "party mode" where the host and/or some handpicked VJs can override but everyone else can only enqueue. As it was, there was a lot of fun with intermittent content wars and accidental interruptions.
Second, and fairly everyday to me, but a revelation to some of those present, was my little portable powerpack. There was some debate as to the location of some city. "Have you gentlemen no phones?" I asked, or words to that effect.
It transpired that both of them had phones, but were down to mere nubbins of their battery life. Our host had chargers, but one of the gentlemen was using his phone (although not for mapping, apparently). I had just the solution, having whipped it out quietly a little earlier for my own use. I saw I was around 90%, good enough, and handed over my usual portable charger.
The device was a pure revelation. Tiny power! For your pocket!
There was wine and other drinkage. This did not come without incident -- one guy spilled wine all over the couch, and then there were a few other wineglass-knockings with lesser impact -- one on the coffee table fell over, one on a bench fell over, and one in one of the cupholder pockets of the other camp chair fell over when someone thigh-checked it.
There weren't quite enough chairs to go around, which is why our host asked for people to bring folding chairs. I brought two camp chairs, one for me and one for jld, on the grounds that while he did have folding chair(s) of his own, I could pre-load stuff in the car the night before, and there would be less to get in the car the day of. I think my hips are not best pleased with that chair, based on the state they were in by the end of the night.
There was food! I brought sparkling cider, a platter of tiny brownies with "red flavored" frosting (yes,nadyne, those ones, so I am still not saying where I got them), plus lingonberry sauce (IKEA) and prepared gravy (Trader Joe's, shelf-stable). jld brought his broccoli++ casserole. There was ham. Kalvin brought some fantastic stuffed mushrooms. JD showed up with something (oh, right, squash) and also hella ambrosia. There were roasted brussels sprouts. There were hot potatoes (chipotle).
There were Wii-related shenanigans. No-one actually got hit with a flying wiimote. After the Wii, cards.
Two of us had brought our Bigger Blacker Boxes. This was hilarious to all of us. Two of the guys, our host and the guy wrapped around him, weren't up for playing -- largely because the other guy is apparently super-competitive and doesn't have fun at it unless he's winning, which I think is excellent self-knowledge for him to have. But they were entirely chill with watching, and at various points they were yelling out suggestions for cards that needed to be there. I took notes.
JD appreciated the Emperor Norton card. Hooray! Part of the charm of the game is when people don't know a reference, and there's explaining to be done.
And then in the very last round, someone played "The biggest, blackest dick" card. They'd been saving it for D. :D
THE STORY OF THANKSGIVING IS A SCIENCE-FICTION STORY, by Scott Alexander
It has come to my attention that people are woefully uninformed about certain episodes in the Thanksgiving narrative. For example, almost no one mentions the part where Squanto threatens to release a bioweapon buried under Plymouth Rock that will bring about the apocalypse.
Thanksgiving! (Thanksgayming)
As is becoming startlingly frequent for me, halfassed my Thanksgiving plans, but had a lovely time.
Figured the Gaymers would be up for something, and there were pre-existing plans that I cheerfully attached myself to. In particular, jld had a very tasty broccoli casserole recipe that would be impractical to get to the South Bay on a bike. So I turned out to be 15 minutes early for our agreed-upon pickup time, after getting a spot of gas. The ride down 280 was really scenic. We caught up a bit.
We were early enough with the light traffic to cruise around some of the new construction, and then be among the first arrivals. We watched Archer for a bit. There were kitchen carryings-on. There was chatter.
Food. Hilarity, the sort that floats over the surface of the mind, leaving behind it just a feeling of deep well-being. YouTube and Chromecast-based fun. There was a large and comfortable couch. Due to a later card "haiku", the couch may henceforth be known as "Fuck Mountain". At many points of the day it was piled high with snuggling dudes. Innuendo aside (and there was a lot of it) all the snuggling was G-rated that I could see.
There were two cool tech bits of the day. First, and niftiest: the aforementioned Chromecast linked to our host's TV, which let various people on the local network enqueue videos to play on the big screen. This did include cat videos. This is, as
sithjawa observed, how the internet parties. The main failure mode was that basically everybody shared immediately (kicking off the current video) at least once. It sounds like the app needs a "party mode" where the host and/or some handpicked VJs can override but everyone else can only enqueue. As it was, there was a lot of fun with intermittent content wars and accidental interruptions. Second, and fairly everyday to me, but a revelation to some of those present, was my little portable powerpack. There was some debate as to the location of some city. "Have you gentlemen no phones?" I asked, or words to that effect.
It transpired that both of them had phones, but were down to mere nubbins of their battery life. Our host had chargers, but one of the gentlemen was using his phone (although not for mapping, apparently). I had just the solution, having whipped it out quietly a little earlier for my own use. I saw I was around 90%, good enough, and handed over my usual portable charger.
The device was a pure revelation. Tiny power! For your pocket!
There was wine and other drinkage. This did not come without incident -- one guy spilled wine all over the couch, and then there were a few other wineglass-knockings with lesser impact -- one on the coffee table fell over, one on a bench fell over, and one in one of the cupholder pockets of the other camp chair fell over when someone thigh-checked it.
There weren't quite enough chairs to go around, which is why our host asked for people to bring folding chairs. I brought two camp chairs, one for me and one for jld, on the grounds that while he did have folding chair(s) of his own, I could pre-load stuff in the car the night before, and there would be less to get in the car the day of. I think my hips are not best pleased with that chair, based on the state they were in by the end of the night.
There was food! I brought sparkling cider, a platter of tiny brownies with "red flavored" frosting (yes,
nadyne, those ones, so I am still not saying where I got them), plus lingonberry sauce (IKEA) and prepared gravy (Trader Joe's, shelf-stable). jld brought his broccoli++ casserole. There was ham. Kalvin brought some fantastic stuffed mushrooms. JD showed up with something (oh, right, squash) and also hella ambrosia. There were roasted brussels sprouts. There were hot potatoes (chipotle). There were Wii-related shenanigans. No-one actually got hit with a flying wiimote. After the Wii, cards.
Two of us had brought our Bigger Blacker Boxes. This was hilarious to all of us. Two of the guys, our host and the guy wrapped around him, weren't up for playing -- largely because the other guy is apparently super-competitive and doesn't have fun at it unless he's winning, which I think is excellent self-knowledge for him to have. But they were entirely chill with watching, and at various points they were yelling out suggestions for cards that needed to be there. I took notes.
JD appreciated the Emperor Norton card. Hooray! Part of the charm of the game is when people don't know a reference, and there's explaining to be done.
And then in the very last round, someone played "The biggest, blackest dick" card. They'd been saving it for D. :D