My adventures in Altamonte Springs continue.

I started the day with a burrito at McDonald’s. This left me with a little more than $1 and change.

Email exchanges were less than productive, so I decided to simply stop them. I did email an old friend to see if he might be able to assist me on short notice. I feel bad about asking an old friend for help on short notice.

Later, as I decided I could get some Ramon noodles with the money I had, I would at least not starve and having gotten through one night could get through another. I’ll probably just mix the noodles with hot water in my water bottle. Things are looking a bit up, I guess. Chao Cajun in the food court was offering some free samples which I took advantage of.

It is not that I want to be in this situation, but I’ve been in worse.

Altamonte Springs is actually a pretty good place to be stranded like this. First, I need gaming opportunities and Altamonte Springs has plenty of those. I ended up back at the Games Workshop for the launch of the new edition of Warhammer 40K. The Games Workshop is a UK based company. They market Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, and Lord of the Rings tabletop games. Table top games preceded games like Dungeons and Dragons, although Warhammer began after D&D.

The launch of the new Warhammer seemed well attended and successful. The first time I stopped in to the shop, I was simply too tired to enjoy the event, but there was definitely a lot of activity. I discovered a state park down the street and was able to get some rest. I went back later and really enjoyed watching a game of Warhammer 40K. The minatures look very cool, but I can’t help but think they might be expensive. I looked at some of the prices and they are not cheap. People can customize their minatures to suit their own needs and the level of detail is impressive. I saw a lot of very cool minatures.

The game includes a wide variety of additional resources and books to add a lot of depth and variety.

Obviously the game lends itself to computer adaptation, but again, there is always something invigorating about real-space gaming. The players can decide on a cap to keep some balance between the forces as they fight- the match I watched had forces capped at 1,000. A round like that can easily last an hour and a half. The round proceeded a bit slower than usual as the players were trying to absorb the new rules. This was better for spectators. Overall, Clay said the launch was very successful from his perspective. I learned about the different armies. I also found out that only Demons are used in both Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. I found the chance to spend time in a gaming environment very relaxing. I shot a short video, and hopefully, I’ll get a chance to upload it.

Tore Simonsen @ The Games Workshop, Altamonte Springs

I also had a great conversation with a teacher who was on vacation at the mall. She was concerned about problems with waves and how they were keeping her from enjoying the ocean in her hometown. I shared some of my attempts to catch a wave at Daytona Beach and discussed some of my world travels with her. Overall, she likes the Orlando area. I mentioned I was a Magic player and that Orlando has a lot of gaming opportunities. Certainly, I’ve already played an FNM and seen the Warhammer release event. I know that Full Sail University, where Dave Arneson taught, is also in the area. So Orlando really seems to have some exciting gaming opportunities.

I also spent some time at the Barnes and Noble. Not only could I update information thanks to the free-wifi, I also began reading a few books. I found a great book on the first amendment and read about a third of it. I also read a book about left-handers, focusing on Turing and his terrible experiences with forced therapy.

I think of Eliza all the time. I’m sure I’ll have more time tonight to think of her and if I’m lucky enough to get some sleep dream of her- though dreams are hard to come by when I’m this tired.