Warhammer, Cookies, and the Male Ego

Recently went on a road trip to Toronto, specifically to go to Medieval Times, and generally to wander around the city and see the sights. Fantastic trip. Medieval Times is just plain old fun. Made me think they'll invent a Warcraft Dinner & Tournament show someday, but I digress.

On the way back, the gf and I were majorly craving cookies. You know how it is, no matter how much you're into eating right or exercising or counting points, when you gotta have cookies, you just gotta have cookies.

But on a highway in a foreign land, your options for cookies are somewhat limited. But lo and behold, what's that off to the side of the road, but a Mall. Every Mall in America the world has to have a dedicated cookie store, like a Mrs. Fields or equivalent, as Mall shoppers are known for their propensity to fork over cash in exchange for cookies.

Spend a half hour winding around side streets trying to find the Mall, since the next exit wasn't for 3 miles 5 kilometers. And its tough to get used to because they drive on the other side of the road in Canada (*).

Cookie Fiend debuff has now stacked 5 times and we're hurtin'.

Finally, the Mall.

Walk, nay run, all over the joint, no dedicated cookie shop. WTF? Its a Mall. Its supposed to have a cookie store.

Finally cave in and buy some stupid tarts at some stupid boutique gourmet bakery thing. Didn't really do the trick, but the urgency is gone and now we can shop.

Pass by a store that looks like its got little Axis & Allies games setup all over the place.

Walk in and get greeted by hyper eager guy that works there. I ask a few questions about the tabletop gaming stuff that's there, he's super excited to be talking to us.

Mid-way through the conversation, one at a time, each of the 6 or 7 pumpkin pie haircutted teenage boys that're rolling dice on one of the tables in back come over and interrupt the conversation, get right in my gf's face and go on and on describing their uber characters and what enemies they've conquered with their tabletop Warhammer and Lord of the Rings armies.

Quite entertaining, and the guy that works there had such a genuine enthusiasm and excitement for Warhammer that it was infectious. We ended up talking to him for about a half an hour and bought a starter set with 10 Night Goblins that comes with the basic set of paints and brushes to get started painting your own little figurines. We'll see, while I'm not sure I'll get into tabletop gaming, painting the guys might be a fun crafty thing to do together, while enjoying a fantasy setting.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Last night we laid down the base black coat while watching Eurotrip (arguably the most re-watchable movie ever, although I might be the only one arguing) and American Idol (go Cook, Archy can shove it, although he'll probably win, and as of this article hitting the press we'll already know the answer).

Lots of fun working with your hands. Such a different experience than playing with electrons and lcd screens. Granted, we were just painting and not actually playing, but it was a really cool way to share a dorky passion together. It'll be fun to see how they turn out as we add more layers of detail to the little guys.

Oh, and if you ever want to feed your ego, really make you feel good about life, bring a hot chick into a tabletop gaming store. The sheer look of awe from the kids and workers alike was worth a couple thousand DPS on any boss fight. 1000 extra ego points if she's actually able to carry on a conversation about Warcraft and fantasy gaming in general. And yet another 1000 points at the jaw dropping effect that occurs when she tells them she's got a lifesize cardboard Borg cutout in her house.

I'm the King of the World!!!!


* No they don't. They drive on the normal side of the road in Canada. In fact, Canada's pretty much like the US, only they have free Health Insurance and good beer.