Failed plans and wold domination.

This weekend my mom visited. My sister was supposed to come, too, and her baby. But the decided a 4-5 hour drive was too much for a 1 year old.

The plan was to come up on Saturday, get some food, then go to a play with mom while Katie watched the baby. Then, go home, switch family members, and go dancing with Katie while mom watched the baby.

I was helping Lindsay teach her 9 AM class at MCAD, so I was worried that after teaching, cleaning, entertaining, eating, a play and dancing, I was be too tired to enjoy myself. So I was a little relieved when I got a message while teaching that Katie wasn't coming. I was sad, too, but man, I was already super exhausted and it wasn't even noon yet...

So when my mom did arrive, we went to Cafe Latte. Francesca came with. It's impossible not to over eat there. I left stuffed, and my mom grabbed the top layer of a Turtle cake to go.

I hung out with her at home while Lindsay took Francesca back. I helped her with computer stuff, and I think I dozed off for about 4 minutes. When Lindsay got back, we headed out to see Rock of Ages at the Orpheum. It's an 80's hair-metal themed Broadway show, so that's pretty up my alley.

It was pretty good. The singing and music was great, the energy was high, and everything was fun. But the drama wasn't really there. I'm always amazed at the amount of investment I put into some of these shows. Even silly stuff like Wicked and Avenue Q, I do get into it and care for the character. Not in Rock of Ages though. The story came a distant second to the music and attitude of the late 80s. I'm not really complaining, I just didn't think it was firing on all cylinders.

Afterward, we ordered a pizza and watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I've seen it (and like it) but I thought my mom might enjoy it. When my mom went to bed, I stayed up and played some Amnesia: Dark Descent. I probably played it too late.

The next day I tried to get wake up, but couldn't drag myself out of bed until 10:45. I was feeling like CRAP, probably from all the crap I ate the day before, but I really wanted to go someplace that my mom would like for breakfast. Since it was such a short trip, I felt like I couldn't just send her on her way.

But I was regretting it instantly. I felt like vomited every second we were in the car. We went to Yum! and I couldn't think of eating anything but a cup of chicken noodle soup. Luckily, it did make me feel a little better. Not 100% or anything, but at least I didn't want to hurl.

We went to Whole Foods and Target to grab some stuff, then my mom took off at around 3 or 4. I played Enslaved, and actually finished it. I think I'll post some more thoughts on it soon.

By now I was feeling a lot better, so I worked on my Halloween costume for a couple hours. Eventually the fumes from the markers gave me a huge headache, so we watched some finished up the sixth season of the Office.

Lindsay is on the Junior Review panel at MCAD, so she had to be up super early and went to bed. I played some Civ 5 and it was pretty epic (I'm still playing my first game).

I declared war against Egypt, who (as far as I can tell) is the biggest Civ besides me. They had multiple cities spread across the continent, and I'd have a rough go against cities in the past. I had been moving troops over as fast as I could from my starting continent (which I conquered a long time ago) and I had stealthily set up a city right in the middle. As I got bigger and dropped off more and more troops, I kept getting warnings about building too close for comfort, but I kept apologizing and saying it wouldn't happen in the future. Once I had gunpowder and riflemen and siege equipment, I made my move. I quickly attacked the north, then steady marched through the south. With my Samurai, Cannons and riflemen, they didn't stand a chance. I lost 2 units, one being a previously wounded ship that I was sick of micromanaging.

It was a lot of fun. There's a mid-game doldrums I've heard about, and I think I was in the thick of it before the attack. I was growing but with no real purpose. Decided to attack gave me a purpose. I am sure I will go on to try to conquer the world. But now I need to explore much further, as I've conquered every civilization I've met (except the Romans, who I've befriended... for now.)