Sunriver 2010 was this last weekend, which is a time for my group of friends to gather and have fun. This is the last year that we’ll be gathering without babies present—if not the last year we’ll be gathering, period. Unlike previous years (the years I’ve gone, at least), the weekend was entirely laid-back and relaxing.

Myles set up a Google Spreadsheet that we could use to determine who was bringing what food and games; an instant later we demonstrated everything that was wrong with collaborative spreadsheets. This is the document’s final form (after Brian spent a good half hour cleaning things up, mind you—click for super-sized version):

Our general plan for the trip was to spend it playing mahjong and watching curling. Turns out that NBC kept curling on various fancy-pants channels that we didn’t get, so we settled for mahjong and (among other Olympic events) ice dancing.

I didn’t even know ice dancing was an event until Sunday evening. I somehow got started making some smart-ass comment about preferring undead girls right before Tessa Virtue and her partner started their routine. Virtue, for whatever reason (makeup? pre-routine jitters?), had absolutely no color in her face—fitting my “undead” criteria perfectly, and causing me to become an immediate and vocal fan of hers. (I’m not a hypocrite!) Turns out she and her partner are pretty damn good, too. Also, her competition all wore these garishly flamboyant costumes—that certainly didn’t hurt, either.

As for mahjong? I bought a $0.99 mahjong app for my iPod touch (I like it, and would recommend it if you want to practice Japanese “Riichi” Mahjong) and practiced furiously in the week leading up to Sunriver. Here are the results:

Most of us—save Jon and Brian, I think—chomboed (lit. “screwed up big-time”) once each during the weekend; we didn’t bother with the stiff penalties that are usually associated with that, instead writing them off to learning the rules.

Still, not too shabby. I didn’t pull off the monster hands that Brian did, but at least I finished up overall. (Again, ignoring chombos…)

Other events of note: Nate baked a whole bunch of bread, and it was delicious. Jon, Brian and I played some New Super Mario Bros. Wii (generally acknowledged to feature “divorce mode”) and finished with our friendships intact. Andy reprised his epic version of No Doubt’s Bathwater in Rock Band. Andy and I began Saturday with a good old-fashioned game of Streets of Rage 2, much to everyone else’s chagrin. I spent a good while engrossed in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, as is my nature when a new Phoenix Wright game comes out. Brian and I made more progress in Growlanser II—just enough progress to realize that we cannot save the girl. (It’s actually rather depressing.) Multiple people dawwed over Pixel the Cat.

…

I’ve only managed to exercise once since getting back from Sunriver, but that was enough to finish off my latest anime series: Bamboo Blade. It didn’t strike me as a super-awesome show, but it was fun enough—and it’s (kinda) main message caused me to reconsider how I approach my dance classes. I generally tend to focus single-mindedly on learning whatever moves or pattern that’s being taught in class… but that’s not exactly fun, and why bother learning the moves if you’re not going to have fun doing so? I don’t know that I’m actually any worse off in remembering the new moves—and tonight was certainly more enjoyable than most.