Kay's parent's house basement is fkn awesome. Aside from having a very video-gameish look to the stairs descending into the basement, it's got a full set of windows, a pool table, corner couch with fold out bed and many other amenities a nerd could want. The basement itself still isn't finished as far as construction goes, but the part we needed was finished. Within a couple hours of our arrival, we had turned their basement into what I would dub the "Nerd Cave". Please note...the following pictures were taken as we were packing/cleaning up.
This would be the entrance to the nerd cave. Take note of the windows.
This would be where Canuck and King Cranky spent many memorable late night moments...
This would be our pool table. None of us can play pool for shit, so we mostly spent time trying to avoid hitting Kay and Kae in the head with the pool stick.
King Cranky giving a demonstration of nearly hitting Kaelis in the head with said pool stick.This basement turned out to be perfect for us space-wise. We had to set up a card table for my computer and Kaelis' computer. Eri got a rocking chair. King Cranky got the TV for his X-Box. Yot stayed sprawled out on the couch and Kay got shoved in the back corner at an already set up computer desk.
The main event that the Nerd Cave hosted was Odin. This was honestly the one thing I was the most excited about on the way up. Doing Odin is fun by itself, but doing Odin with a bunch of friends in the same room is even more fun. It really couldn't have turned out better from an execution standpoint. We went in with 36 people utlizing a set of feathers on Runestar (who had missed a couple Odins due to real life issues) and had no issues taking him down. Kay got her A.Body that she's been after for a long time and we also got to poke fun at Erimentha for D2'ing herself after the run was done.
Aside from the fact that D2'ing one's self is funny...this was the first time I had taken a BLM into Odin as they generally prove to be ineffective against him. Since BLM is Eri's only job, we didn't have a choice. So to be funny after Odin was done, I announced over the linkshell that we did, in fact, have a BLM to D2 everyone! All 36 of us!
I still haven't figured out what happened, but as we're giving Eri grief about having to D2 that many people...she somehow managed to D2 herself.
(Qtipus) I lied about the D2 guys, run to Nashmau!
Lake Swim and Kayaking
Two of the days we were there, we spent at Kay's family's campground. Their campground is about 15 mins away from their house and, like most other property in Maine, on a lake. Normally, I'm not a big affciando of swimming in large bodies of natural water, but this lake was so clear, I couldn't resist. Especially after seeing Canuck try to relive his polar bear swim experiences and dive right on in. The following pictures can be best described as "Blue Shirt = Friday/Day 1" and "Red shirt = Saturday/Day 2". We didn't get too many pictures of the water events on Day 1, but they look rather similar to the events on Day 2 with one exception.
I actually wore a shirt on Day 2 while I was kayaking around. I didn't go swimming on Day 2 though...too much wind as the water in the pictures will show you.
Canuck in all his pale glory.
(Suraph)DO SOMETHING FUNNY!(Qtipus)WTF AM I GOING TO DO IN THE MIDDLE OF A LAKE IN A KAYAK THAT'S FUNNY?
(Suraph)I DON'T KNOW
Nothing to teabag...guess it's the old middle finger standby.
Good example of how choppy this water was on the second day.
Canuck and Q disembark from the dock...unbeknownst to them that they'd see nothing different in the middle of the lake. It'd just be a lot harder to get there.
Since I failed at doing something funny for a photo op, Yoteo decided to start singing "Oh Canada".Not really, but it looks like he is and it's funny to think he is.
This was really the first time I had done anything of this nature since my days in scouts. It really made me miss all the outdoor activities I used to do on a near weekly basis. It wasn't uncommon for me to be in some sort of a competition every weekend while I was in my late teens. Row-boating, Canoeing(sp?), Swimming, etc.
It also reminded me of just how out of shape I am now. Believe it or not, I used to be ripped. I had the washboard abs, farmer's tan and flex-pecs going up until I was about 22. Then I got into the computer business and well...everything started sagging downhill due to my lack of physical activity.
$*#@)&$@#*( Tree Root
As the afternoon is drawing to a close on Friday, we get everything packed up to head back to the house. The wagon you've seen previously is the first car that needs to back out. Yot, Sur and I are standing around waiting for Eri to back the car out when we hear a semi-loud pop and a hiss. All three of us immediately knew a tire had blown. This would be the culprit.
This would be one of the holes it left in the tire. There's a picture floating around somewhere of the 2nd hole that was left. It actually punctured the tire near the rim and along the side.
Check out my knobby knees. That last fkn lugnut just did not want to come off. I'm pictured here yanking on the tire iron while Yot is just praying I don't push the car off the jack. This is also one of the rare times anyone will see me wearing sandals without socks.
Finally got all the lugnuts loose and off. After replacing the tire with the spare (thank god they had one...), we drove back to the house. We figured finding a place to get a replacement tire wouldn't be too hard on a Saturday after Odin was done. Unfortunately...no tire shops were apparently open in this small town of about 4,000 people on Saturday. So we had to wait until Sunday to get one on our way back to Hartford.This was the sort of luck we had with the car on the entire trip. Eri was rather shaken up about the whole tire thing (nearly backed into a tree after we had changed the tire trying to avoid the spot where the original root was...), but it was something that could have happened to anyone of us. While I can say a couple of the issues (oil change and cooling system goop) could have been something that was dealt with before the trip ever took place, popping a tire and a flaky latch on the hatchback are definitely things no one can predict. The tire popping and the subsequent hunt for a replacement was just par for the course we were on.
Brokeback Mountie
Most don't actually catch the array of one-liners Suraph fires off when he's in-game. This could be due to a lot of them being muttered instead of typed, but the entire trip, the combination of Cranky + Cynicism + Wit meant we were treated to a number of zingers at everyone's expense...including his own.
On Sunday morning as we're loafing around after breakfast, we started needling Yoteo and Suraph's sleeping arrangements. That couch that's pictured above is actually that sectional/corner sofa that's been pulled apart into separate "beds". Obviously, when Kae/Eri and Kay/myself go to bed, we don't know what goes on down in the basement with those two. In typical fashion, we like to "guess".
Yoteo being Canadian meant he was going to take his fair share of jokes. Between the non-stop metric system, poutine and bacon jokes, there were some homo jokes sprinkled in as well. Suraph fired off his fair share of these. As we're joking around, something is said to Yot that makes him reply in a rather...gay way to Suraph. So I asked...
"Did you two just have a Brokeback Mountain moment?"
And before that question even has a chance to register with everyone, Suraph, with as serious a face as I had seen just says...
"Brokeback Mountie thank you very much."
Easily the best one-liner he fired off the entire trip. This even had Kay's family laughing. Yot could really do nothing but hang his head and laugh.
Needless to say, those two words got run into the ground for the rest of the trip and continue to be. This is also the sort of banter that was going on the entire trip. It's really nice when everyone just gets along and can jockey back and forth like this. :)
Next Volume will be the last and encompass the trip from Maine back to Cincinnati.
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