Fun and Geekiness

I had an interesting week of fun with the kids, then when they we at their mom's fun with other adults.

Have you ever been with a group of friends and all you do is jokingly cut each other down?

I work with a bunch of engineers. Somehow I can fit in with just about any group and have fun, but for some reason my personality makes me easy pickin's for being the butt of a joke. Maybe I joke around so much that it's just a fun retaliation. It's kind of automatic. I can take a joke better than most people. I roll with the punches. But then there are times when someone in the group says things in a way that don't sound like they are trying to be funny.

Jason is the type of person that can be enjoyable to hang out with, but far too often has this "poor poor pitiful me". I try not to slam Jason too often because more often than not what comes back is more harsh than funny. I know he is just trying to "fit in" with the joking around, but it makes me wonder sometimes. Maybe he is just one of those guys that has such a low self esteem that he doesn't take a joke in a manner that it was intended. That or he just doesn't have the social skills to understand how to talk to people in a non-offensive tone.

My typical response to Jason's come backs is to just let things settle down, but some of the guys I hang with just egg him on. They all know Jason far better than I do. But his negativity just worries me sometimes.

This group of guys that I hang with are mostly from work. A serious bunch of geeks that is for sure. Maybe someday I'll get a picture of them all and show you. Friday night for Cinco de Mayo we got together and played some geeky card and board games. The card game is called Munchkin, and the board game is RoboRally.

Munchkin is a fairly simple card game where you "Go down in the dungeon. Kill everything you meet. Backstab your friends and steal their stuff. Grab the treasure and run." It is kind of a spoof on D&D if you ask me. Quite fun!

RoboRally is a fast-moving robot race. Each player tries to be the first to cross a series of checkpoints by maneuvering a robot across the floor of the "Grid Widget Factory." The course is laced with perils such as lasers, crushers, missile launchers, and conveyer belts. I described some of the game play to my kids. They want it.

Other than that I've been geeking out upgrading my computer. I have a serious gaming machine now. I am such a geek.