Serene of the Oakland Serenes

[EDIT: This is now the permanent game-night post. Any changes to the game-night info will show up here first. In addition, dates for the next game nights will be posted here. So will any cancellations.]

Several of you have asked me when we're going to start game night again, and the answer is "Now". Well, sort of.

Game night at Serene's / Game night at Guy's:

When: 1st & 3rd Fridays every month, 7pm - ? (Next game nights are February 6th and 20th)

Where:

• 1st Friday: Serene's place, North Oakland (not wheelchair-accessible)
• 3rd Friday : stonebender's, San Leandro (wheelchair-accessible entry; the bathroom is less so)

[If you don't know where we live, please email for directions.]

What: Games. Board games and/or RPG. (That is, we'll plan to play board games, and if anyone wants to start up an RPG alongside the boardgamers, someotherguy has agreed to make that happen.)

Who: You and anyone you want to invite. RSVPs are very helpful, but if you forget to RSVP, please come anyway.

What to bring: You don't have to bring anything. If there are snacks/drinks/games that you especially want to have there, feel free to bring them, but we will provide substantial amounts of trashy (and non-trashy) snacks, lots to drink, and a pile of games to choose from, including Apples to Apples, Monopoly, Fluxx, Checkers/Chess, Trouble, playing cards, etc.

A note about kids: Our places are not childproofed, but they're kid-friendly. We have building toys and DVDs for the munchkins, but if that doesn't captivate them, you're in charge of entertaining your little ones.

If you have food or environmental allergies, please do let us know so that we can do our best to accommodate you.

Originally, my solstice party was going to be a smallish thing, but hey, elissaann is in town, so I want everyone to know about it, and come hang out!

Elissa has a concert that afternoon/evening, so she'll arrive late, but we'll have food and schmoozing starting at 7pm.

When: Friday, June 20, 7pm-midnight or later

Where: My place in North Oakland

Who: You and anyone you like and/or love and/or want to bring along. Kids are welcome, but the place is not kid-proofed; there will be a TV with videos available in the bedroom and lots of building toys -- for kids or adults.

What: Food, conversation, food, music, and food. (Come as you are. This is not a potluck.) Also, if anyone feels like bringing musical instruments, y'all can play music and laugh at Serene's nearly nonexistent guitar skills.

You can get directions by sending me an email, if you don't already know where we live. Also, we're happy to provide crash space -- we've got a full-sized foldout bed and tons of floor space.

Current menu for the solstice party, picnic theme version, subject to change:

cold fried chicken
veggie kabobs with some sort of veggie protein (tofu or seitan or tempeh)
sandwiches
meat-and-cheese tray
homemade baguettes
potato salad
macaroni salad
watermelon
lemonade
iced tea (sweet and un)
maybe beer, maybe homemade root beer
peach cobbler
homemade ice cream, several flavors, and sundae bar

What else says "summer" to you?

Also, if you know whether or not you're coming, I'd love a head count when it's feasible.

This Sunday, the Official Month o'Solitude?-Don't-Talk-To-Me-About-Solitude is over -- oh, well, I tried, and I think I did end up freeing up a lot of energy, even if I was fairly busy all month. I cannot schedule when work is going to explode, or friends are going to melt down, or relationships are going to change status, so I just rolled with it, and I do think that having fewer social commitments helped me cope without melting down into a puddle of goo.

October: Work, social stuff in moderation, HALLOWE'EN PARTY!, and preparing for NaNo

November: As I just said to someone elsewhere, November is NaNoWriMo, so I'm keeping my calendar fairly light, though everyone is encouraged to bring/buy/send Thai food, the official writing food of Serenes everywhere. Anyone offering Thai food gets automatically bumped to the top of the social calendar. :-) We might go see someotherguy's mom for Thanksgiving, if finances permit.

December: Will probably have a munchkin visit. Giftmas. Signing up for classes at the local community college? Work. Who knows what else.

Mark your calendars, local folk. February 10th will be the costume party for Munchkin The Elder, who is sweet and darling and had another sucky Halloween this year. Bring any kids you know. There will be food and drink. There will be Weird Al music. There will be costumes. There will be prizes -- everyone who wears a costume gets a prize!

When: February 10th (Saturday); 4-7
Where: TBD (right now, it's looking like either North Oakland or San Leandro)