Thanks, friends
I am feeling a lot less depressed now that work is going better. Thanks to all the good friends for their notes of friendliness and support in my previous journal.
Work is going better
I managed to do make progress on getting another job at MS because my current manager is pushing me out. And I finished a major chunk of my current prototype and sent a link to my whole team so they could oooh and aah over it and play with it. That made it a fine day at work and lifted my spirits a lot.
A fun night with good folks
And on the social front I had a lovely night with the SGSeattle gang (and the lovely visiting Ophelia). I even got them to try the mighty and wonderful game of Mao! And they don't all hate me after doing it... much.
Some notes on Mao, my favourite crazy card game:
A quick Google (try this search) will show you that tons of people plan tons of different versions of this crazy card game. I learned it from a friend, and that is really the only good way to do it.
What are the rules of this Mao?
The rules are never meant to be explained and you always learn by paying attention to examples and by penalty cards. Too many of the Mao web sites out there explain the rules, but that's okay because no two versions of Mao ever seem to share more than a few basic rules. It's all about a particular group of players and the rules they end up using together. The better sites are those that, instead of trying to explain a set of rules, try to give other people the idea of the game through a description of a sample round.
Like this sample round
Or this one and this one (Waterloo variant)
The Waterloo variant have a whole bunch of the same rules as the one I played tonight (in part because I think I learned it from a comp sci student from Waterloo) but I left out some of the rules I never liked and some of the rules that I usually use just to keep it simpler for folks learning it. I try my best not to alienate new vict... players.
I also like to play a more casual, social version of the game that is less rigid and more subject to fudging in the name of fun.
There is also a very cool Mao Index Page with lots of great links. Anytime people are up for a game, I am usually more than willing (which is more than I can say for most people I try to teach the game to)
Silly boy is tired and still awake, but appreciates you cool cats
I am rambling because I really like this silly mind-bending card game and I am very tired and have to go to breakfast in a hour and a half... but it is all good.
Even at times when I don't see all of you often, and even though I don't post lots (excluding insomiac binges) I am gald I have met all you SGSeattle folks and all you other wonderful humans (and mostly-humans) from all the far reaches of SG-dom.
Now I go to get an hour of sleep before breakfast.
- DreamMaker
Still awake...
and I found a cool family tree of Mao variants (I had to use the Wayback machine to find it because the page was down)
And the most importnat Mao page I found so far was this Spirit of Mao page.
Now I try to sleep again... yeah right.
I am feeling a lot less depressed now that work is going better. Thanks to all the good friends for their notes of friendliness and support in my previous journal.
Work is going better
I managed to do make progress on getting another job at MS because my current manager is pushing me out. And I finished a major chunk of my current prototype and sent a link to my whole team so they could oooh and aah over it and play with it. That made it a fine day at work and lifted my spirits a lot.
A fun night with good folks
And on the social front I had a lovely night with the SGSeattle gang (and the lovely visiting Ophelia). I even got them to try the mighty and wonderful game of Mao! And they don't all hate me after doing it... much.
Some notes on Mao, my favourite crazy card game:
A quick Google (try this search) will show you that tons of people plan tons of different versions of this crazy card game. I learned it from a friend, and that is really the only good way to do it.
What are the rules of this Mao?
The rules are never meant to be explained and you always learn by paying attention to examples and by penalty cards. Too many of the Mao web sites out there explain the rules, but that's okay because no two versions of Mao ever seem to share more than a few basic rules. It's all about a particular group of players and the rules they end up using together. The better sites are those that, instead of trying to explain a set of rules, try to give other people the idea of the game through a description of a sample round.
Like this sample round
Or this one and this one (Waterloo variant)
The Waterloo variant have a whole bunch of the same rules as the one I played tonight (in part because I think I learned it from a comp sci student from Waterloo) but I left out some of the rules I never liked and some of the rules that I usually use just to keep it simpler for folks learning it. I try my best not to alienate new vict... players.
I also like to play a more casual, social version of the game that is less rigid and more subject to fudging in the name of fun.
There is also a very cool Mao Index Page with lots of great links. Anytime people are up for a game, I am usually more than willing (which is more than I can say for most people I try to teach the game to
)
Silly boy is tired and still awake, but appreciates you cool cats
I am rambling because I really like this silly mind-bending card game and I am very tired and have to go to breakfast in a hour and a half... but it is all good.
Even at times when I don't see all of you often, and even though I don't post lots (excluding insomiac binges) I am gald I have met all you SGSeattle folks and all you other wonderful humans (and mostly-humans) from all the far reaches of SG-dom.
Now I go to get an hour of sleep before breakfast.
- DreamMaker
Still awake...
and I found a cool family tree of Mao variants (I had to use the Wayback machine to find it because the page was down)
And the most importnat Mao page I found so far was this Spirit of Mao page.
Now I try to sleep again... yeah right.
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
michael_desade:
Did you intend to join SG Conservatives or did you not realize it was a private group. The reason I ask is because it has happened by mistake before. 
ophelia:
I was trying to describe Mao to people, and no one understood what the hell I was talking about at all. I did like not *really* playing, though, so I could blame anything that we fucked up on MrDiety. 