True Fortress Ameritrash Confessions

I'm a godless conservative libertarian.
I own more games than I need both video and board.
I am ever the optimist that I will play said games.
I used to pee in the bathroom sink as a kid to...you know...mix it up a bit.
I am 17 months tobacco free.

I miss Weeks too, I actually thought he was treated like shit for joking around. I felt bad for him AND I liked him. It was tough to be on the site during those days.

My first post here ever was because of Skeletor, he's how I found the site. His attitude at BGG was hilarious and he seemed like a genuinely fun guy to game with. So I followed him over here and then I posted in a TI:3 vs. Nexus Ops thing and Weeks just shit all over me for picking TI:3 (of course he would) and I didn't get it at the time. I was angry and did not like him at first. Within a couple of weeks I was a much better poster, I understood internet conversations way better and knew more about how to translate my humour to a forum.

Him and Skeletor are the reason I'm here today, and I wish they were both here too, but I stuck around for all the great commentators here and the fact that this feels more like a community than BGG by far but doesn't brag about being an awesome community at all. BGG is like the guy at a party when everything is going great and he says: "Wow, this party is lots of fun" ... instantly sucking all the fun out of the party. F:AT just is... and that is far more appealing to me.

Weeks I still get along with, we traded e-mails for awhile, discussed working on some songs together, and then it all kind of fell apart. Skeletor hates me now, I made fun of Runebound or maybe even him a little and he took offence. I wish he didn't but that's how it goes sometimes. I still think he seems like a fun guy to game with. He can get pretty emotional on line sometimes and I have done that too so I get it. No big deal.

I genuinely like everyone on the site, even people I've bickered with. No one seems like a total stick in the mud, everyone seems to get why we play games, everyone seems to get what games are good for and to not take them too seriously. There is genuine love for gaming here but at no point does anyone sound like they would hold it above a non-gamers head like some trophy of their very own. No one seems to have this "these games of ours" attitude. We are usually softer on games like Monopoly or Risk that get shit on by most hobby gamers.

I have never posted drunk and only occasionally posted while high. When I'm drinking I forget computers even exist and when I'm high I'm usually jamming.

Also, I am the cool kid here, all the rest of you should get off the site and leave me to converse with myself since none of you are cool enough to hang out with me.

Just so you know.

I've never liked Skeletor much. It seems like he puts every ounce of effort into being a dick. Sometimes that's funny, other times it gets old.

charlest wrote: I've never liked Skeletor much. It seems like he puts every ounce of effort into being a dick. Sometimes that's funny, other times it gets old.

I honestly can't hold that against you. Not because it's reasonable, but because you watch hockey and cheer on the Blues. That is all too rare and you can basically get away with murder now and I probably won't reproach you for it.

JonJacob wrote:

charlest wrote: I've never liked Skeletor much. It seems like he puts every ounce of effort into being a dick. Sometimes that's funny, other times it gets old.

I honestly can't hold that against you. Not because it's reasonable, but because you watch hockey and cheer on the Blues. That is all too rare and you can basically get away with murder now and I probably won't reproach you for it.

To be clear, I'm talking about his personality on BGG (I wasn't around when he posted here). We're talking about Frank La Terra the Aussie, right?

charlest wrote:

JonJacob wrote:

charlest wrote: I've never liked Skeletor much. It seems like he puts every ounce of effort into being a dick. Sometimes that's funny, other times it gets old.

I honestly can't hold that against you. Not because it's reasonable, but because you watch hockey and cheer on the Blues. That is all too rare and you can basically get away with murder now and I probably won't reproach you for it.

To be clear, I'm talking about his personality on BGG (I wasn't around when he posted here). We're talking about Frank La Terra the Aussie, right?

Yeah, and he has a new account on BGG right now, he was funnier in his old incarnation. But I liked that BGG personality back in the day. His new posts don't seem to have that same anger in them that his old ones did. But I still like his stuff all right. I originally thought it was faux outrage... probably not the case but that's ok.

I never really cared about Weeks one way or the other. I got a lot of complaints about him when I was moderator and several people I liked reading stopped posting much. So I figured if I could make a bunch of people happy and be a jerk to some dude on the internet it was a win-win for me. I did like Skeletor though and his posts were often proxies of what I was thinking.

I love ConnCon, but the only slot I think worth signing up for is Board gaming, Boozing, and Bullshitting run by Al, Dan, and Shellie Friday and Saturday nights from 12-5am. Same goes for WBC now that I think about it...

Confession: I wish I could play Mage Knight once a week.

Several confessions:

I turn 40 on Dec 31st, so have really been trying to cut my time online down as I have a few personal goals I want to attain before then. I've accomplished one by getting a new job. Now, I just need to really learn the guitar and a second language. I've also considered that task of reading one biography, in order, on each US President. Seems worthwhile.

I've been critical in the past of this site dying, and have been called out for not submitting stuff to the front page. I don't have the desire to write long front page blog posts, that's not my bag, but felt I offered what I could which was getting topics in the forums going. That's what all those 'Top 5...', 'Let's Talk...', and 'The Critic' threads were about. I may not have a lot to say on any one game, but I enjoyed getting those with experience and enthusiasm talking. I think this site peaked around the era of Castle Ravenloft. There were several long blogs, forum threads, articles, reviews on it and the base seemed large with skelly, southerman, mj, etc still around. I also liked Weeks.

I once designed a wargame on a little represented conflict, but realized there's too much crap out there already and does the world need another game on the shelves? Really though, I think I just don't have thick enough skin to deal with the inevitable haters.

When I first moved to Austin in '99 I enrolled in a pro-wrestling school. Then I met my soon to be wife, and spending evenings at her place was more fun. (I do think the recent Math Trade theme, by Bull, is the best so far. Putting on the glasses to see the shelf toads! ha! classic!)

I'm unironcally a proud American, but don't get excited about capitalism. I love Texas, but don't like to see everyone else (Californians) moving here. I'm socially liberal, but fiscally conservative.

I was raised by Christmas/Easter Catholics, but now identify as 'Christian', but it's more in the Jeffersonian sense. We don't raise our kids under any one denomination. Sometimes we go to a Methodist service, sometimes we go to Catholic Mass, sometimes we go out in the woods to camp and bike. It's all good.

I do feel like there are waaay to many games being published now. I don't care to keep up with them, and it makes cool features like the Trashdome near impossible. Hard to get that many people having experience with the same games. The pool is too diluted.

I've culled my collection tremendously, and don't have any excitement for fantasy, sci-fi, or superheroes anymore. I never really liked cthulhu. I do have two copies of Titan and Talisman (original versions and newer). You know I feel like the classics are works of art and I'd rather have an extra Gary Chalk Talisman on my shelf then some other sub-par, non-Talisman fantasy adventure game. Same with Titan. I'll play someone else's fantasy wargame, but there's no reason for me to buy one.

I was straight-edge until I was 24, but now have a 2 drink max now and then. I don't like being drunk, and have never done an illegal drug.

I think US soccer teams with European names is stupid. The league even calls it soccer (Major League SOCCER), so for your team to be [city name]FC (FOOTBALL Club) is dumb.

At one point, I thought I was one of the 'in kids' on this site, but when a fundraiser came up that I wasn't invited in on I learned my place.

I feel gaming is inferior to hobbies such as fishing, boating, playing music, etc.

I'd be fine if I never saw another superhero movie.

I voted The Smiths over REM and would choose Last Night on Earth over A Touch of Evil.

EDIT: Sometimes I wonder why there aren't more 'younger' folks on this site. Sometimes it feels like an old folk's home, and I wonder what's keeping away the under 25 set. Actually, I have no idea on the age of the posters/lurkers here, but it feels like this site leans older. Seems we touch on enough of the nerd topics that are en vogue atm I'd think we'd have plenty of younger folks. Perhaps it's too much discussion on nerd burnout or family talk. I have no idea.

EDIT EDIT: At times BGG depresses me because it's a big indicator on the passing of time. I remember when that photo of those TI:3 guys was first posted and how awesome it looked to see a group of fellas settling in for a long game. Where are those dudes? How have the following years treated them? I enjoyed the photos of 'Fort Worth' Jim and 'Cheezilla'. Both dead now (RIP). Yeah, it's like constantly opening up a photo album to a bunch of people I only know via online personalities, but it's still weirds me out.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: (I should call it a night) F:AT Trivia: Barnes and I were at the same concert in a small venue in the 90's (Gene at The Point in Atlanta). Small World.