A Bowl of Chili, Some Minis, and Youuuuu

For a couple of months, I was struggling to get by. One by one, I droppped pretty much every hobby I had, because on the scale of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, hobbies take a backseat to food and shelter. When I managed to get things back on track, putting my old life together exactly the way it used to be actually wasn't that attractive; as I tried the things I used to do, some of those things didn't quite 'fit' anymore, as if they were old clothes.

One of the things that did fit, and in some ways fits better now, is playing D&D Minis.

At last Sunday's tournament, a bunch of us talked about getting together the following Sunday to have a minis day - the host would make chili, while the rest of us brought stuff that went with chili. Then we'd sit back, eat, play minis, and socialize.

As it turns out, there were only three of us who went - myself, the host, and one other. But we still had plenty of chili, plenty of extras (I'd brought cheesecorn to put on the chili - if you've never had cheesecorn on chili, try it!), and plenty of minis. The third guest brought a bacon-horseradish dipping sauce he'd picked up at the Minnesota State Fair, and while it was decent with crackers, we agreed it would go a whole lot better as a condiment on a roast-beef sandwich. The host's chili was outstanding, and the beer was cold. Then, once we'd indulged in food, we indulged in minis.

We started with an Epic game where I and the host played the bands we'd considered playing in the previous week's tournament, but had decided against it; it turned out we were both right not to bring those bands to the tournament, but I was more right than he was, as he defeated me convincingly. We then played a round-robin series of 100-point games against each other, playing bands we thought about bringing to next week's tournament. My band idea didn't do quite so well, but I did get a number of ideas for new and 'improved' bands to try at the actual event.

And there was food, and conversation with people who share interests, and it was absolutely a blast. I'm glad I did it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Now I just need to save up enough money to get to Indianapolis next summer...