I was in the US for the past few months, and got back on the 3rd of January. The following is a summary of what happened while I was there.
Getting back to the US was great. I missed everyone a lot and in some ways it was just like I had never left, in others it was very different.
Some of the people weren't working there anymore, and because some people had been let go recently, the mood wasn't at its best. That got better over time, though. Magic Night wasn't a regular thing anymore, and although I was hoping it would be again, the lack of interest and the fact that Sean didn't want to participate (but stayed as my ride even tough I had a bus pass, meaning he'd just be bored all evening) made it so that it didn't really happen, although I did play a few times.
I kept going to Sean's office on a regular basis, actually even more often than before, I would say. Not on Thursdays anymore much, but almost every Monday (painting night), Tuesday (various games night) and Wednesday (Dark Heresy night, during which I usually painted).
As a result I got to hang out a lot with my friends again, which was really nice. Within the first month, we had a 24-hour gaming marathon at the office, and I'm proud to say I stayed up all 24 hours (as well as a couple of hours both before and after the marathon itself). It was a LOT of fun. I played, among other things, Pokémon, AudioSurf, Warhammer 40k, Magic the Gathering, Cards Against Humanity, Race for the Galaxy and Zombie Dice.
Sleep deprivation wasn't as bad as I expected, and although I was goofy and not very self-restrained and too French (forgot about culture differences again), I didn't embarrass myself quite as much as I thought I would. For instance, I kept most of my clothes on throughout.
The only games I was new to (out of the ones I mentioned) were Cards Against Humanity and Zombie Dice. I really enjoyed the former, and the latter was cool for the last few hours when we were too tired to play anything complicated.
Other out of the usual events included:
- My welcome party. We went bowling, and to a restaurant. It was really nice seeing everyone together at the same time again.
- Going to Muir Woods as a triple date. Delicious grilled cheese sandwiches were had. We didn't end up doing much hiking, but we had a lot of fun.
- Playing Android over a whole Sunday. Man this game takes a lot of setup. I enjoyed it but you need to plan a whole day around it.
- Halloween, which was really, really awesome. I dressed as McGee's Alice and hung out around the people I already knew to avoid freaking out because there were a lot of people. Then we went to see Cloud Atlas (after I changed). I loved it so much I saw it twice more in the following two weeks.
- Thanksgiving Day at our place, which was nice although I got overcrowded and didn't participate much. I think there were too many people for me.
- Post-Thanksgiving celebration with some other of Sean's coworkers, this time not at our place. Lots of tasty cheese.
- The Christmas party. So many people! I kept busy by drinking (but no alcohol. No way I'd be comfortable drinking around so many people).
- Sean's birthday week: started the weekend prior with going to The Hobbit on release day with a bunch of friends, then dinner on Saturday with other friends in a pretty awesome restaurant, then we had cupcakes on Tuesday and a dinner on Wednesday (his actual birthday), which doubled as my goodbye dinner.
While I was there, the Wednesday Dark Heresy game ended, and a new one started on Tuesdays, this time with Sean as a GM. I'll be following it on Skype from France but not playing it.
It was very hard leaving, but hopefully I'll be back soon, and for good.
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