Well, as intended I left for the arena to volunteer my time to help children and their families learn to play "non-Walmart" board games.
Me: "So how old are you?"
Girl: "7"
Me: "Well this game is for 8 year olds; but you're going to play it anyway because it is easy."
Girl smiles big; her father is pleased also.
The game is easy, it has three rules.
A. If you have enough currency, you may purchase one of the following 3 pieces; move piece to empty space from piece purchased, place piece in your play area, move your token a number of spaces indicated by the piece.
B. If you need more currency, move your token ahead of your opponent and collect currency equal to the number of spaces moved.
C. When your token moves past the currency space on the board, collect currency equal to indicators in your play area.
The game ends when both players reach the centre of the board.
Simple game.
She beat her father.
That was 5 minutes of my 7 hours there. I'll be talking about this game in my regular blogs eventually.
Later in the day, I had an opportunity to go to the video game area and play Mario Kart 64. It's been 15 years since I played it last.
I didn't hold back, 150cc and Special Cup. I was horrible. Absolutely horrible. I used to be amazing, almost never lost, knew all the tricks and secrets.
I came in third for the first course...not bad. (3 points)
Fourth for the 2nd and 3rd courses...what's going on? (1 point each)
Lastly second on Rainbow road. (6 points)
11 measly points!
But a miracle happened. Despite my horrible game play and completely inept ability to keep up with Luigi, I ended the game in second place.
Luigi had 36 (1st in all courses)
So I took it, somehow, only Luigi was good. I'll take second after 15 years.
And then It was time to pack up and go.
And that's where things get fuzzy.
First the heat.
Second the insane amount of people.
I have problems in large crowds where the emotional "energy" is overwhelming to me and my walls aren't strong enough to block it all. 20 people is my border line, or 15 minutes if more (enough to walk through a busy part of town tog et tot he next bus).
Empathy. And not the "empathy" that everyone uses for sympathy: "I'm having a personal emotional reaction to your situation." That's sympathy. I have no sympathy.
Empathy. Having an non-personal emotional reaction to another's situation. Feeling other people's emotions as if you were having them yourself. That's empathy. Having emotions that are not your own.
So, I get downtown for the important transfer. Canada Day 10,000's of people around I don't have much time. Get to the next bus stop after walking 10 minutes; 3 minutes for the next bus, perfect. The bus doesn't come, at all.
Now it's Canada Day, most of the people were having fun, a few bored, but over all should be a good thign to lose to empathy...but 10,000+ people.
No. It hit me like a tsunami and I was spaced. I think a few people asked me if I was OK. Somehow I ended up home, somehow I did laundry, somehow I ate, somehow I was in a conversation through text, somehow I don't know.
I fell asleep, presumably around 9pm (indicated by the "where are you" texts this morning). My roommate came home and woke me up to bitch about that he didn't have time to clean up after himself, to which at 2:15 am (according to the text time) I sent a text saying my roommate is a "ducking apple"?
I woke up at 11am today. 1.25 hours ago.
14 hours of sleep. I still feel run down from being downtown however long I was.
Today I am going to my best friend's b-day party, there will just be a few of us and we will be playing board games. That will also help me recover.
So that was yesterday and whatever was last night.
