Hiatus

Ok, I promised myself to post everyday. I need to go on hiatus this week because I have more work to do than I've had all term. So, till Saturday.

Day 9

On the mend... still a little feverish. No more phlegmy coughs. I might have fun at eball yet. I also got invited to a pre-eball thank you event. Fun stuff.

Day 8

Flu, fever, phlegm.

Day 7

I'm sorry to dissapoint my droves of fans but there will be no epic today. I went to this hospital for these cough/sore throat symptoms. I don't have strep but I prolly have the flu. Just in time for eball. Awesome.

Day 6

I've come down with some malady. My throat is sore and I've been coughing for a few days, enough that my chest hurts now. It was possibly due to a hockey helmet I wore or close proximity to sick friends... maybe carolyn.

I'll avoid class discussion today - it isn't really interesting anyway. Friday night I had some people over for some comedy. Unfortunately, those who came neglected to bring any so we played settlers instead. Despite being screwed initially in a game where resources factor in exponentially, I pulled out a win. Miraculously, 2/4 dev cards were monopolies and 1/4 was a victory card. In the end, I had the choice between building a city to win, building a settlement or grabbing longest road. I built the city and settlement to win with 11 points.

Actually, this story seems like I can make it a lot more interesting...

The night had grown long as we started the umpteenth round. The duo of Davey Mitchell and Mitch Crowe, the former receiving his last name from the latter, had been amassing their power. Their gleamy cities were unrivalled on the map, being next to rich sources of wheat and ore and they had no scruples at exploiting the native people of the hexagonal island. They had began consolidating their power and reached 9 points with longest road.

Carolyn was down and out. She's simply Marie Antoinette at this game but without the saving grace of giving cake. I was sitting at 6 points and Alex was at 5. We knew we had to form a pact to prevent the dynamic duo from taking the island. We noticed two critical flaws in their placement: a lack of space preventing them from securing longest road and reliance on one rich source of wheat. I had id'd earlier in the game this weakness and as such had a stranglehold on the other two reliable wheat sources. Alex and I opened up a fairly free trade agreement and imposed an embargo upon Davey and Mitch, henceforth refered to as D&M, while bribing the robber where we could to take the crops D&M needed to feed their war machine. As alex was pouring through the development cards, and had the most expansive land, she made a powermove and, no doubt through her own slave labour and conscription, took longest road and largest army, moving her to 9 points, D&M to 7 and myself still sitting at 6.

My countrymen were starting to loose faith, my approval rating was falling approaching George Bush's. D&M's elite were still in ignorant bliss with their resources but their lower class were dealing with famine. Alex's war machine marched on, with roads to rival the Romans and armies trained hard like despots of old. But alex was stalled. She couldn't build a city to win the game because she lacked the wheat herself. She also had maxed out her settlements. I had upped my production and was now cranking out 3-4 wheat per harvest and only needed to secure ore. After a few more tense rounds, with harsh trading - free trade pacts and embargos falling by the wayside - Alex sat at 9 points, with carolyn even trying to steal longest road (which still only put her at 7 points), D&M at 8-9 points and myself at 6 points.

I had one victory point in hand and no one else had development cards not showing. I gambled on the cards and over three turns, I pulled out two monopolies, a soldier and a victory point. The first monopoly I called on ore - just in time as D&M had on my roll, harvested 4-6 ore as had carolyn and alex. This gave me 10, which I would not have otherwise - and by this point, the tactitians and demograph..icians had identified that my nation had suddenly become a threat. With the move, I built a couple more cities and got more development cards (which would turn out to be another monopoly). I knew I would win by next turn and it just relied on no one else taking the victory. I bluffed the best I could and one by one, they passed their turns, not being able to trade their way into victory points. Isolationism was the current fad. It came to my turn, and even if I had rolled a 7 and had my stocks spoilled, I still would've won. I mused on how I should win the game to my opponents and built a city and settlement with my wheat monopoly to finish with 11 points. My countrymen rejoiced! They danced in the streets, made love in my bountiful wheat fields and heralded my name (some while in the fields...)! I was latter to be backstabbed by my right hand, curiously named Brutus but that's a story for another time.

Day '5'

Ok, so I should add an addendum: I'm counting Fridays as part of the weekend. I don't want to write when I'd rather be living life. Plus, it may give me something to write about by Sunday. But I think I'll cop-out today too cause I'd rather play my guitar. Freshly stringed :)

Day 4

Today I was running around trying to sort myself out since I lost my wallet. I check with UBC security for lost & found to no avail. Picked up a new Upass, luckily not a new UBCard since I had thought I lost my wallet before and already had picked one up ages ago when I then found my wallet. They've raised the replacement cost of the card to $20 from $10. Ran off to pick up a hockey stick and got two since they were on sale. Got back just in time for my exec meeting. Ran to the DMV to get a new license and miraculously, I was the next person in line. Talked about more water in my technology and society class then had a ball hockey game. Won 5-4 and I got a goal and an assist. Should've had a couple more... got one slapper with all my wood but hit the goalie in the pads, even knocked him back.