Saturday, October 15, 1988

'Risk' Taking

Doug woke me up around 10:30 a.m. so we could get ready to go into Hull for a Record Fair. Bad news, huh? I took a shower then caught the 11:30 a.m. bus into downtown with Doug and J.P.. We first stopped at Midland Bank for J.P., then the photo store to pick up a batch of photos. J.P. and I overshot the store and were walking all over Jameson Avenue before we realized our error. Then we finally made our way to the Record Fair.

Awesome find #1: I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when I found one of the record albums I was hoping I’d find here… Prince’s rare, bootlegged unreleased “Black Album”on vinyl, which is what my friend Scott really wanted. So I bought the vinyl copy of the record for £12. I guess I’ll keep the cassette tape I bought in London for myself.

Awesome find #2: Next I found something that I’ve been looking for over a year and a half – the original Genesis “I Know What I Like/Twilight Alehouse” single, and for only £2! I left nearly broke but tremendously happy. Shame I don’t have a record player in my room to check out my find. Hopefully someone in the residence has one I can borrow at some point.

We then found a toy store where we all chipped in £1 for a Risk board of our own. That game has fast become our latest obsession. Next we hit a deli for some sandwiches, then took the bus back home. I went to my room, but it wasn’t long before a game of Risk broke out (already!) in Doug’s room. After awhile, I stopped in to watch. We then broke for dinner, where I had what qualifies as the worst meal I’ve ever had anywhere. So we came back to Doug’s room and split a garlic loaf, which helped.

Then it was back to the game. I helped out Paul Crowley, who was down to one country and on the verge of elimination. Through creation of various treaties, I was able to help him get back into competition, even controlling North America, before we were eventually eliminated. (Sorry, that would’ve been a better story had we won the game.) Then Jon Whalley, who was doing quite well in the game, had to leave, so I took over his troops. I was then able to conquer and destroy Andy Croxhall, and then, after a few aggressive moves, wiped out Kenny Prunty’s army for total victory. Of course, I couldn’t qualify it as my victory, but at least I helped.

It was time for another break, during which time Doug and I took a short walk up the street and around the corner to Double Happiness for some actual food. Man, they have the best chips and gravy there! The gravy has a nice oriental flavor that cannot be beat.

Well, at 8:30 p.m. we started The Game of the Century II (no hyperbole here!), featuring myself, J.P., Doug, Paul, Andy and Kurt Dross, with a slightly intoxicated Jon joining his team for this go-around. Well, Kurt was eliminated in about 5 turns, which left 5 superpowers remaining. J.P. and I had established a non-aggression treaty, so we were able to concentrate our efforts elsewhere. Paul and I got into some fierce battles, but soon Doug went on the offensive and whittled Paul down to three countries, though he chose not to wipe him out. Doug also knocked Andy out of the game during this offensive, which screwed up J.P. strategy.

So J.P. and I got together and decided to sacrifice J.P.’s armies for the win. He took his armies and knocked out as much of Doug as he could. Meanwhile, I took advantage of Doug’s tactical error in not wiping out Paul by wiping him out myself and taking his cards. With seven cards in my hand and J.P. on my side, we had no problem taking Doug over. So I was the victor, with the significant help of J.P. But then, all is fair in love and war, right?

During this game, Jon’s termination of two full bottles of Thunderbird wine and a bottle of Concord wine began to take its silly – and then violent – toll. He told Bonk that he loved him, wore a towel on his head and called himself “The Virgin Mary” (which he did last night as well, even wearing the towel out to a store), and kept asking “What happened to the red armies?” (which were Kurt’s pieces.) He sat in a closet for awhile, continually asking “When can we have a serious talk?” and other humorous anecdotes. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be in agony tomorrow.

Then I popped into J.P.’s room, where Sindy "Sid" Bajaria (pictured above with me, photo courtesy of J.P.), Liz Ortega (from Manchester), Vivienne Schofield (from the small seaside town of Skegness) and Bits (London, I believe) were hanging about. We sat talking for awhile, and then, when J.P. wanted sleep, Liz and Viv came back to my room for some coffee. It was finally 4 a.m. before they finally decided they needed to go back to their room (they share one of the double rooms.) I loaned Liz my jacket, and we walked back to their room (after some problems with the key) and I bid them good night. Viv seems to fancy Doug, and I think I’m moderately attracted to Liz, but I’m not about to say too much about it yet. Oh well.