What're the Odds?

[thessalian]

I think everyone feels like the odd one out at some point in their lives, at least to some degree. Maybe it's because of how you look or how you speak or what you're reading at the moment or just because of an opinion you hold; doesn't matter. At one point or another, everyone sits there and feels like the odd one out.

I'm getting fucking sick of being the odd one out.

Never mind the amount of time I spent being the odd one out in school; I'm pretty much over that. But as you get older, while it stops being less of an issue in terms of physical and mental well-being, it tends to lead to a great deal of personal inconvenience.

I don't really care about being the only ex-pat in our office; that's not a big deal and no one much cares anyway. But being the only person in the office who can't stand this easy-listening and pop music does, because it means I'm in the minority and stuck with Heart, Magic, or Capital FM.

As for the 7th Sea bunch, I'm really fucking sick of being the only South London dweller in the group. Right now, Mad-as-a-fish is thrilled about having this week off (understandable, really), and so he's trying to fill his week with as much stuff as humanly possible. Most of it's gaming. And I don't mind the whole deal with the Star Trek thing having to take place over a couple of days early in the week. It's when he turns around and says, "I'm doing the pub lunch thing after Dragonmeet so could we do the game later? Say, 6:00/7:00 pm?"

That's not a valid question. If it were asked to me as anything but a rhetorical question, I'd have the following reply.

"Do we have any choice, you daft prat? You're the GM! If you're not there, we don't play!"

Yes, it annoys me. Usually we game once a fortnight, 3:00 to 10:00. This is fine for the others; we play at Kat and Mark's house in Golders Green. Andy and Toos live in Finchley. Dave lives in Enfield and he drives. Simson's probably the worst off apart from me but he's still got half the commute. Anyone with access to a Tube map, look up Golders Green to Tooting Broadway.

Mostly I don't mind. It's once a fortnight, it's not a big deal, and I don't get much sleep anyway. But I do normally get to relax, which is almost as good. Now not only are we going to be playing later (which, knowing the digression potential of the group, is bound to mean an over-run and I'll be lucky to get the last damn tube), but the suggestion to make up the time we lose is to play in the week. I'm going to be running around like a headless chicken anyway getting ready for the trip to Montreal that week; do I really need days when I don't even get home until midnight?

But, bar a whinge in my livejournal, I can't say any of that. I'm the fucking minority. I'm not inconveniencing a half-dozen people for my own sake; the needs of the many, and all that. It just pisses me off, is all.

Of course, a lot of this comes out of me being dog-tired. Too much running around this weekend. Too much migraine. Too many people met. I may feel better when I have a bit of rest and some time to myself. But then, my schedule...

Today: Dinner with Mum.
Tuesday: Character gen for Star Trek
Wednesday: Actually playing Star Trek
Thursday: Free so far, but cholten99 talked about coming over...
Friday: Crash at cholten99's; possibly clubbing.
Saturday: Dragonmeet, Colchester.
Sunday: 7th Sea.

Christ. When did this life-thing happen to me? And I want to try to set up a Mage campaign on the non-7th Sea Sunday?

Thess

Comments

[jonny-eol.livejournal.com]

Ah, role-play group timings. Half our group work in retail and need the extra money from Sunday working. Two more are long-term unemployed (disability) and I'm only one of two on Mon-Fri, 9-5ish. This leaves Sunday night (and there's been an irritating number of must-attend gigs on Sunday this year). Never get going until 9pm, and apparently I'm starting to irritate some people by demanding a midnight finish (giving six hours sleep before Monday morning). This works OK for trad-fantasy, but for White Wolf games (more reliant on drawn-out intertwined plots) it just dosen't work.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. I guess it must be hard for the GM too -- he works in Theatre and so works evenings and Saturdays most of the time. It's easy for him to have a late finish because he doesn't have to be up early Monday mornings, and the others can go straight to bed if they so desire...

I don't know. Maybe I'm being selfish. All the same, I'd have gone for Finchley last October if I'd realised what life was going to offer me.