Mason's World

Everybody has been working really hard at my company lately, and we finally launched a bunch of projects at the same time. To celebrate, we organized a bowling tournament.

One of the project managers went all out - we formed teams and  organized brackets. There were 8 teams, so we had three rounds of competition.

Now, let me pause a minute to tell you a little about me a bowling. I'm a decent bowler. It's not often that I don't break 100. Usually, my score is somewhere between 110 and 130. It's not something I do that often - maybe 3 times a year - but thankfully its not the kind of sport that you need to keep up to maintain your skills. Not the way I play, anyway.

But back to the game - as it turns out, people from Idaho have nothing better to do than bowl all the time. My team's first opponent was Team Idaho (all the teammates grew up in Idaho). They blew us out of the water. Sad for me.

All in all, we came in 6th place. Not a shining moment. But quite a good time.

Every year for the last 10 years, my best friend and I have done something for New Year's Eve. More and more, that involves traveling somewhere away from home. This year, we're thinking about going to southern Mexico, so I'm in the planning stages of that.

Mexico has been on the list for a while. I've certainly been before, but just to some of the more tourist-y destinations like Puerto Vallarta and Tijauana (which barely even counts).

So we've got our sites set somewhere in the Yucatan. We'll probably fly into Mexico City or Cancun, and then head somewhere else from there. We'll be able to spend 5-8 days there, so I'll have plenty of time to check things out.

Has anyone been to this part of Mexico? Have any travel suggestions?

I finally caved and played D&D with my friend who has been trying to get me to play forever... and I loved it... which makes me a HUGE nerd.

But, it turns out I'm pretty OK with being a huge nerd.

Just so there's no confusion, D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons - one of the oldest tabletop role playing games. I had friends who played RPGs back when we were in high school, but I was always snobbish about them.

There are lots of stereotypes about people who play these kinds of games. Old sweaty fat guys who still live with their moms. Shy, disconnected boys who don't have girlfriends... which is TOTALLY not me. I have a girlfriend. It says so on facebook.

Anyway.

I think the road was paved for my new D&D addiction by video games. You've got hit points, special attacks, weapon upgrades...it's all there. But the part that I was finally ready to embrace - and the part that's ultimately the most fun - is the ability to make up the actions on your own.

Every video game, at some time or another, is limited by the mechanical constraints. What if I want to swim across that river rather than run across the bridge with all the enemies on it? Nope. But in D&D - the only thing that would keep you from doing anything is the will of your Game Master and your lucky roll of a D20.

The other thing I've been surprised about is how many of my friends have come out of the woodwork - either people who are willing to give it a try, or people who used to play and are eager to get back in the game. Honestly, now that I don't have to stay in the rat race of making the rounds at the bars to pick up girls, it's one of the cheapest, funnest ways to spend a night.

But let me end by saying: If any of you see me walking around in a cape and/or brandishing some sort of wand, please... stage an intervention.