(Okay, the title is not really what the entry is about at all, but I couldn't resist.)

On Friday, Demma decided to postpone going home until Saturday so that she could go to the vampire game that night. She was still in a really bad mood though- she and Scott started playfighting again (they do this approximately every 15 minutes) and she ended up injured and very pissy about it. They argued in the bedroom, while I sat around in the living room reading up on Vampire: The Masquerade. I had heard of this live action role playing game before, as there's a group in this town that does it. However, since one of the guys in there has a crush on me that won't die (plus they always play outside where it's frigid in winter), I haven't actually gone yet. D&S play in the game in Modesto and wanted to bring me along.

I'll attempt to explain what this is about, for those of you that don't know. Basically, vampires exist and at least some of them are dedicated to hiding their existence from the mortals in the world. Others aren't. They're mostly divided up into various clans, which have certain traits and abilities. Here's a pretty well-laid out explanation of how things work. And I have to say that the descriptions and characters in the books of theirs I borrowed were fascinating. Hypnotic, even. So it kinda appealed to me.

Scott said I should work on making up a character, but alas, I was getting lost during the process (and he was too busy dealing with Demma to help me out much). A fellow I met in charge of the local game once told me (after knowing me a short time) that I should be a Malkavian, which is perhaps both accurate and frightening to hear, if you know what I mean. I was also kinda attracted to the Tremere because of their doing magic. However, I eventually decided that I already played crazy all day long as is, and the artsiness of the Toreador was more my speed. But alas, I still wasn't all that clear on how to set up the characters, since they were out of character sheets, and little did I know then that you can download them like this one. So I figured I'd just go hide in a corner or something during the game, since I didn't know what to do. At least I could wear my new Renaissance top out in public somewhere.

So we show up at the Modesto game, which is held at a gaming store (yay indoors), and run into a couple that D&S know. The girl sees me and begs to have me as her ghoul, and since I'd been told before this that being a ghoul was a good way to get involved in the game as a beginner, I said yes. However, she ended up running off someplace and transferred me to her boyfriend to be his ghoul. He was a Brujah, which isn't quite me (I can't beat anyone up), but the rebel thing is cool, so what the hell. He sets me up with a sheet and character as a ghoul.

While we're doing that, a fellow known as Sweeney walks by the table and does this total stare at me. At first I don't figure out what the hell that's about, but he soon makes it all too clear. Apparently he thinks I am quite the fox-at least, it takes him about a minute and a half to tell me he's in love with me and I'm the most gorgeous person he's ever seen and he just had to tell me that now because he might never again have the chance.

Ummm�.. How can I put this? He may be a very nice guy (Scott had earlier mentioned this fellow as one I could hook up with), but of all the things a guy can do upon acquaintance, especially with me, this is the A#1 VERY BAD SIGN thing to do-that is, overkill. Sweeney beat the previous recordholder in this department, who had, ten minutes after meeting me, started making comments about us going to bed. Honestly, guys, no matter WHAT you're thinking upon seeing a girl for the first time, don't do that. Because you know what goes through their heads upon hearing this? They're not flattered. They immediately think "Oh shit, STALKER!" And thus, I felt freaked out by the comeons that continued from there on.

Besides that, I thought that um, his reaction was overkill as well. I may be cute, sure, but I ain't no Helen of Troy/sailed a thousand ships kinda girl, nor do I want to be. That would be an utter pain in the ass to deal with. However, the whole double-take-staring thing made me feel like that for a bit, and it wasn't a good feeling. Scary scary. Occasionally I can put on the dog like that (if you see picture #2 on this page), but usually I look like the first pic on that page. Glasses, flat hair (albeit dyed reddish now and kinda lookling like this faked pic, which was a BIG hit with Sweeney), double chin, etc. Cute, but NOT THAT CUTE. Honestly, I'm not getting it. Scott kinda does the same thing too, but at least he's a bit more subtle about it. He doesn't get why I don't think I'm the biggest babe in the universe, and I am similarly lost in the other direction. Oh, whatever.

After doing my chart, my master of the ghoul (or whatever I'm supposed to call him) then disappears. I am all baffled as to what to do, but fortunately the game hasn't started yet. Scott has long since disappeared to go talk with people or something, so I hang around with Demma (who's recently been vamped herself) in the "out of character" area, where they sell stuff at the store. Then her friend Michele shows up. Demma had told me earlier that she and Scott had "adopted" Michele and her fiance Chris awhile back and the two stay over every weekend. Michele was, in a word, adorable. Having a bad day herself, but adorable. We pretty much snuggled up right away, and when Sweeney kept calling out "Don't leave me, Jennifer!" (about every ten minutes if I walked by a door), Michele grabbed on to me and made up some excuse about having to take me somewhere. Presumably, she has some vibes of her own about him. She, Demma and I wandered out of the store and to the nearest McDonald's to generally gossip and hang out and gripe, for like an hour, before returning to the game. None of them were in the mood to particularly play, and I had no idea how, so we decided to try to go find their boyfriends and try to convince them to go home.

By the time we get back, the game has started, and � it's amazingly quiet. About 30-40ish well-dressed people (guys in suits, hats, etc., girls in dresses, furs, heels for the most part) just � sitting around and talking, or standing around and talking. Obviously it wouldn't be a good idea to er, walk up to them and join in or eavesdrop, so I'm feeling a little lost. (All they do to play is talk? I figured they'd be running around trying to bite each other.) We found Chris (who was also doing the ghoul thing and not having a lot to do), but alas, Scott was in the midst of some major Ventrue-style wheeling and dealing and was pretty much ignoring all pleas to leave. He told me to hang around with Demma (ghouls aren't supposed to be left alone to wander), since my guy had disappeared.

So we all go hang out in a corner, until Demma and Michele get approached by this guy who says the Toreadors have to elect a new primogen. (Michele: "We're always electing a new primogen!") And� no ghouls allowed. Chris and I are stuck in a bad position- not supposed to be alone, yet nobody's around to protect us. We try to get Scott's attention again, but it doesn't work (I tried sending him a "Get your ass out of there NOW" mental message, but alas, it did not work either), so we slink off and hide in the store out-of-character area, bored out of our minds. I sat on the floor and read more of the Vampire instruction manuals, but by now I was er, feeling decidedly unimpressed with the game. Not fun. The primogen meeting goes on and on and on and on and on.

Eventually, whatshisface in charge of the meeting leaves, and we can finally approach the table. Michele offers to make me into a Toreador vamp, which I am totally fine with by this point. She, Scott, the prince (see that definition link again), his cousin, and whoever else they can find then wrangle around to get it arranged so that I'm now her ghoul instead of the guy who took off's. This is enormously complicated�. But after that gets done, we all leave and go back to D&S's.

What a confusing night. I may go back there to visit/play again in the future, but I so need a babysitter (Michele's job now, I guess!) to do it. Listening to Scott post-game, apparently he had QUITE a lot going on (honestly, folks, if this dude were in the business world and not on my side I'd be terrified), though. Huh.

After that, Michele wanted to go wander the Stanislaus campus with me for awhile at around 1 a.m. And that campus is GORGEOUS. I am not kidding. Especially at night. Gazebos, nice trees, a river runs through it� beautiful.

I'm going to try to wrap up the weekend about now, since not a whole lot happened after that. Demma went off to her dad's the next morning, and the rest of us lazed about the house hungry. D&S (Demma still working on her credential and Scott having been out of work for about three months) were pretty broke, and there wasn't a whole lot left to eat in the house. Seriously, they were scraping up change to buy some kind of food, and they had about $6. Ouch. Boy, is that scary. Especially when you sit there thinking "That could be ME." Anyway, I had about $25 or so in cash on me (plus the checkbook for emergencies), and we were all starving, so I said I'd pay for groceries. So we walked to the grocery store (Demma had the car) and er, went a little nuts trying to get food for the next three meals. Lunch meat, bread, frozen pizza, drinks-and it ended up coming to over $50. Hoo. Boy. I didn't say anything about it, just calmly wrote the check. I feel both good and bad about it. Good that we frigging ATE, that I wasn't a total mooch for taking up their gas money to go see me/haul me to their place and back/eat their food, etc. Bad that holy crap, it was $50. I think Scott felt a little weird about it too ("don't mention it to Demma or I'll get in trouble"). We ended up taking the cart to slowly walk it all home. Chris drove it, Michele and I took rides in it. He drove it a lot better than the time I stole a cart from the grocery store. I had to go a whopping two blocks with it, and ended up nearly tipping the thing multiple times, he hardly did it at all. Guys.

We ended up watching Starship Troopers at home. Normally, this would not be a movie I would watch, since it has several elements I'm not fond of: (a) it's a war flick, (b) major gory deaths all over the place, (c) bugs, and (d) Denise Richards (I cannot forgive her for The World Is Not Enough). However� it was good. Really good. The nasty gore freaked me out, but Scott (and later Michele) were nice enough about comforting me through it, instead of laughing like the local guy with a crush on me that I mentioned above did when he took me to a gory flick. The propaganda stuff is intriguing, as are the different takes on things in it. But (a) waaah that my favorite died, and (b) wow, those are awfully WHITE kids from Buenos Aires. (Just had to say that.)

Sunday pretty much went about like the other days- lounging around, watching movies. Demma eventually came home in a REALLY bad mood (ruined dinner, people trying to kill her in traffic, mondo headache, etc.), hauled the kids home, then went to bed. I'm sure some of y'all nosy folks are wondering where the er, FWB stuff comes in when I was there. Well, basically, when she went into a sult and hid in her room, we hung out together. Didn't do a whole lot, but fooled around a bit. And that's all I plan to say about that. Next day, I went home.

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