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January 27, 2007
Day of Games
The day begain with a phone call from friend David, still at Bob and Seiko's house, where he has been sleeping in order to avoid the cat and dog dander that coats every surface in the barn. David was calling with an SOS. Apparently, Bob had locked himself in the upstairs bathroom, where David's glasses, contact lenses, shirt, and various other personal effects were consequently marooned. The bathroom door is seldom locked, nor does it close satisfactorily. Bob locked the door out of respect for the visiting guest, but due to the age of the apparatus and the infrequency of its use, the lock, once set, refused to open again upon request. The resulting impasse was delicious. Bob, within the bathroom, was helpless. David, blind as a bat and shirtless, could offer little but sympathy. Seiko, unfamiliar with the workings of old locks, was sent to fetch a hack saw blade.
Eventually the door was reopened, and without the use of the hack saw. I will withhold the details. This was one of the situations for which the solution is far less glamorous than the predicament itself. For the sake of modesty I will name no savior, but will allow that I played some role in the rescue. Once Bob was liberated and David reunited with his belongings, we returned to the barn for breakfast and to contemplate the day's boundless possibility.
It was soon decided that we would play games, a not unusual passtime when we get together with David. After much deliberation, we decided on charades, but as we started to play, we noticed a new pattern emerging. Rather than acting out the clues in question, we found ourselves resorting exclusively to the "sounds like" option, such that we would act out, syllable by syllable
Hairs / sun ring / a butt / hairy
in order to get the guessers to say...
There's Something About Mary
Get it? Pretty fun, actually.
Other than limiting the clues to aural references, the mechanics of our game was the same as regular charades. We still looked ridiculous as we tried to act things out.
We sometimes behaved like deranged people.
We struggled and clawed to be understood.
And when the task was done, we exalted in the thrill of hard-fought triumph.
And, after much exertion, languished helplessly for the better part of 15 minutes.
Here are a few of our favorite clues. Have a try. Better yet, get some friends, and try to act these out. It's a lot more fun (and humiliating) that way. Answers will be posted in tomorrow's entry.
bar sip / poop stirs
pool / love / clock
bra skoal pee yawn / cry gnaw fight
bar / shores: / the burn / shove / duh / head shy
duh / gal bend zit / kiss turd / grip flee
side / sand / edge kid miss
fur grass brick / bark
swat grr trip / clown
kill wig ins / pie gland
We sent this list, via email, to friend Christian, originator of the Primitive Beef, who not only solved each one instead of doing his appointed lawyerly work, but also provided us with a list of his own device, that we might try to puzzle them out together. Here is Christian's list. The answers to Christian's clues will be posted tomorrow if we feel like it.
A. pear sin / clock dough bitch
B. core / pet things / sand / duh / loon bur cal
C. get worse / dumb / flee crow / steam duh
D. slays / dove / stun per
E. boy / gory
F. backs tee / thrive her
G. strife / miss / shoot duh bull
H. my rents / love / duh / jams
After aural charades, we decided that our gaming hunger had not yet been wholly sated and moved on to Pictionary. Now, by any reasonable measure, Pictionary is not a game you can play with three people. In order to have two teams, usually you need at least two people on each team, so that one person can draw and the other person can guess. NOT SO with our unique brand of of the game, called Primary Representative Pictionary. In this version, invented out of desperation a few years back, there are three people and three teams competing for the win. Each person is the Primary Representative (that is, the person who does the drawing and moves the pawn) for a team consisting of one of the other two players. On the team for which I was the Primary Represenative, I would draw and Robbi would guess. On the team for which Robbi was the Primary Representative, Robbi would draw and David would guess. And I would guess when David (as the Primary Representative) drew. When there were All Plays, one person would draw and the two others would guess. If the person allied with the Primary Representative (who was doing the drawing) guessed before the non-allied person did, the Primary Representative won the round and his turn continued. If the non-allied player guessed before the Primary Representative's partner guessed, that player would win the round, steal the turn, and would begin to draw (as the Primary Representative), with his partner for that team.
Sound confusing? It is. But it works. If you can remember that the goal is having fun and don't resort to sabotaging the game by not guessing the correct answer when you know it but the net result of not guessing is that it becomes your turn (an entirely possible outcome of Primary Representative Pictionary). Fortunately, even we who invented the game struggle so mightily to remember the nuances of the rules, that we seldom remember, in the heat of the moment, whether or not it is in our personal best interest to guess the correct answer or not. So most often we play it straight. And thus have a fine time.
Eventually the fun wound down and the time came for David to hit the road again.
We drove to DC to have dinner with David's friend (and now our friend) Stacy.
After two full days of fun, we must now rest up for tomorrow and Sunday, which will be the ultimate anti-weekend. We have been postponing the piles of work and must return to industry.
But as they say, Gaul jerk band grow flay snakes Flack duh hull joy.
Posted by bogenamp at January 27, 2007 12:06 AM