Dungeons and Dragons

Greetings loved ones. As of Wednesday night I have a new obsession. It is called Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, I mean the ultra nerdy role playing game created in the seventies by a man that goes by the name of Gary Gygax.

On Monday I stepped into a little game shop called Gubbinz and Games. I was with Drew and Steve. On the outside it just looks like a store that you would normally just walk by but on the inside it's a whole different world, or should I say a whole bunch of different worlds? When I walked in there was a big table in the middle that looked a little like this:

This game board is used for a game called Warhammer: 40k. While we were at the store, two people battled. It was so interesting. They rolled dice to see how their armies would move and fight. Not only was there this table, but there was so many different games stocked on the shelves. Trading card games, role playing, video games, etc. I was the only girl in the store and the regulars looked like they weren't used to having a girl in the store. But I think they realized that I was harmless and they didn't make a fuss. Not only was it cool to watch but it was hilarious, the "nerds" made really funny jokes and said really funny phrases. If you live in Rexburg, I highly recommend going and hanging out at this store. 

Anyways, I have always known what Dungeons and Dragons was but I had never played it so we went to a round on Wednesday night. I was really nervous because I didn't want to look like a n00b even though I kinda was. So Steve and I got there and were led down to the basement. Only one kid was there and he was dressed in head to toe army combat gear. He introduced himself as Keenan and he was really nice and listened to his music quite loudly. Then came in the DM(dungeon master) and his name was also Steve. He brought pizza and he was also a police officer. He had fine social skills, he's married and was pretty normal which I thought was cool. D&D is just his secret pleasure. Drew came and met us and we all picked a character. I picked out Keira the elven rogue/thief. I never thought myself as much of a fighter but when we had to battle these 5 sturges (mosquito-like insects that are the size of small dogs), I was able to kill 3 out of 5 of them. Fortunately I wasn't wounded but my fellow comrades were. It was a rough battle but we all pulled through. At the end of the round I was awarded the MOMENT of Greatness for the way I fought. It felt really good for my first time. I got a little confident and started bragging to everyone. I bragged to this one kid about how I killed these sturges and he looked at me and said, "Sturges? Aren't those only like Level One?" BURN. It was pretty funny though. Since Steve and I were first timers we recieved this little membership card with our DCI number on it. Keenan turned to us and said, "Congratulations, you're officially a nerd". I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it. 

Today Drew, Steve and I went to lunch and they saw this guy who called them gay because they were dancing around Twizzlberry one time. We wanted to see where he lived so we followed him, after we found his house we just continued down the road to the nature park. It was freezing and we decided to go for a walk. Drew pushed me in the snow several times and I was pretty numb. We then decided to act out our round of D&D from yesterday night. We found sticks to use as swords and everything. It was fun and we made it out alive. 

WE ARE WARRIORS!

To conclude this post I want to share a Gygax quote with you:

"Of course as children, we all, in all cultures and societies, learn behavior from observation, imitation, and encouragement of various kinds. So by the suggestion made, we all 'pretend' most of the time."

Valentines Day

So I know that it's the day after Valentines' but I didn't have time to write yesterday.

I was on facebook earlier and I noticed that so many people were writing bitter things about Valentines day. People mentioned how they didn't have a gf/bf or how they didn't have anything to do for Valentines. Or people just mentioned how it is a commercialized holiday just to make money off. All these bitter posts got me thinking, what is the meaning of Valentines day? Do you HAVE to have that ONE special someone to share it with?

I don't think Valentines is pointless. It's a day to show the people we love how much we really care about them. You can say that we should do that everyday but let's get real, we don't. There are sooo many people that I love and why can't we appreciate everyone that we love instead of one person?

Today I had a great Valentines. I didn't go on a date or anything but I got to spend i with people I care about. A couple friends and I helped my Whitney pick out a gift for her boy (she got him a fish), then I ate pizza with Drew and Steve and then went to this one magic game store! It was definitely the best part. We hung out with stereotypical fantasy/dungeons and dragons/magical nerds and I LOVED every minute of it. Next week I am even going back to learn how to play D&D. After we picked up Steve's cousin Evan and he bought us all these snacks. It was great. See, I hung out with people I love, who needs romance?

P.S. cute little side story....Sunday, I get a text from my friend Kathryn asking me if I had been talking to her little brother (who is 17) and I said, "No, why?" and she told me that he asked her to give him my number asap, so she naturally gave me his number and told me to call him and confuse him. So I called him and he played it off like he never asked for my number, but then he said "Kim, I have a question, will you be my Valentine this year?" and so I said "I would be honored", then he told me that he is going to play me a song he wrote next time I see him. Today I got a picture of flowers from him. It was nice.

Another little side story, this young boy from my ward came over with my FHE brothers on Sunday and made me food and asked me to be his valentine all in the first time meeting him. SO I said yes because it is totally possible to have more than one valentine(i have like 10, not to brag or anything) and I got home from work and saw a little present on my bed, it was "be my Valentine" brownies and a little card that said, "Dear Kim. Roses are red, Violets are blue, Some poems rhyme and others don't. Kim, have a happy Valentines day. Your Valentine, Daniel". It was funny and I loved it.

Snowboarding is of the Devil

A couple weeks ago I went snowboarding for the first time EVER. What I was really excited for turned out to be a horrible experience. People make it look sooooo easy when in reality IT IS NOT. I also don't have the best balance in the world. I fall or run into something every single day. It's my own fault though. I don't wear my glasses so it kinda makes things blurry. ANYWAY.....let's talk about snowboarding...

  Before I knew what I was getting myself into

That Saturday morning our little group piled in our friend's BEAUTIFUL Jeep Wrangler (i am obsessed with these cars) and made our way over to Kelly Canyon. There was five of us all together and only 2/5 knew how to snowboard. The rest of us had no idea what we were doing. 

The first accident occurred when trying to get off the chairlift. When we got to the midpoint I tried to stand up and I just fell down. It didn't hurt that much at first. I pretty much fell down every chance I got. My friend was holding onto me while I was doing the falling leaf down the bunny hill. Everytime I fell I felt as though someone slapped my butt with a hammer. My legs hurt, my feet hurt, my butt hurt, even my arms hurt and I wasn't even done with the first run. I was finally able to get up on my own but then my friend Junior fell down right in front of me, so I made myself fall but I also twisted my knee. Ouch. 

Whitney and I went back to the rental shop and asked for some skis because she thought that it would be easier. She was wrong. She forced me to get on the lift. It was horrible. At midpoint I tried to get off but I couldnt, I didn't know how! We end up having to go to the summit. I was freaking out and I said a few things I wasn't too proud of to Whitney. She was laughing so hard at me. At the summit I got off and automatically fell down. It was the worse. I told Whitney to leave me there and just let someone rescue me. I get pretty dramatic sometimes. Luckily Whitney's sister helped me down the mountain. I would have died without her. 

We finally got to go home, and Whitney and I got crazy bread and pizza. That was the highlight of my day. I had to work later that night and everyone kept calling me grandma because I was sort of waddling around since I was so sore. 

The end of the journey

Maybe I will go again. I did buy some really cute snow gear. We will just have to see. KBYE. The End.