CanCon is Coming

Normally I travel to Canberra with my friend Ivan but this year he took me aside and explained in the gentlest terms possible that he was sick of chauffeuring a narcissistic, cow obsessed sociopath around our national capital.  I looked around carefully but it would appear he was talking to me.  I did a quick canvas of other members of my gaming club.  Would any of them be interested in chauffeuring a narcissistic, cow obsessed sociopath around our national capital?  Strangely one was or, to be more accurate, didn't slap me with a restraining order when I asked.  Suffice to say if I turn up at Hurstville railway station at 10am next Friday I will be greeted with transportation to either Canberra or a heavily guarded "medical" facility.  I'm relaxed, I've escaped from that place before, and the medical facility shouldn't be too much harder.

Prior to linking up with my transport I needed to make my preparations.  This largely consisted of packing my gaming gear and arranging for a neighbour to feed the spiders in my apartment.  They're not pets, I think the best term I can come up with is "squatters".  Andy Rogers who organises the tournament had sent out a list of the boards and nationalities that would be involved in the upcoming tournament with the usual plea that if anyone worked out what scenarios were going to be played would they please keep it to themselves.  Given the nationalities and the boards required it is actually possible to work out the scenarios using an advanced mathematical process called "giving a crap".  I prefer to be surprised on the day or at least I couldn't be bothered going to the effort of arranging anything else.

My dice have been somewhat cruel to me of late and I have informed them in no uncertain terms that if their current performance continues at CanCon then they may receive a visit from Mr Hammer in the near future.  This is actually an empty threat as I own no other dice (or at least no other dice an opponent is prepared to let me use) so I'm pretty much stuck with them even if they produce nothing but boxcars for three solid days.  At this point I'm hoping my dice haven't learnt how to read my blog.

With transportation arranged all that was left to do was gather together the required materials.  This meant pawing through approximately eighty seven thousand small cardboard counters in an attempt to identify the ten or so which Andy had deemed essential to play.  Things weren't helped by the fact that quite a number of the counters had faded making identification difficult.  Things were helped even less by the acquaintance who pointed out (with more malice than the situation really demanded) that it wasn't the counters that were fading, it was my eyesight.  Bastard, I would have hit him if I could have focused on him.

I had to travel light which basically meant filling a bag full of gaming equipment and stuffing in random articles of clothing wherever I saw a gap.  Fortunately its rarely cold in Canberra at this time of year.  The politicians have left and the icy wind which blows off their souls is much abated.  I am now fully packed and prepared and the only thing I have left to do is whatever the hell it is I have forgotten and will no doubt remember once its too late to turn back.

Beware, CanCon for I am coming!