Tragic Comedy: Zoom Edition

Scott Hardie | May 14, 2020
Chris Lemler had a great suggestion (thanks Chris!), so here's putting it out there: Who would be interested in gathering as a group online to talk via a video chat service like Zoom? Things are rough these days and we could all use some company.

I'd love to organize some kind of virtual GooCon, but I don't have that kind of time right now. At most I could throw together a very short and simple RB tournament if there's enough interest. But I don't think we need any "activities" really -- just some good conversation and smiling faces should be plenty. :-)

If you're interested in doing this, what times suit you? I can make room for this on weeknights, Sundays, and every other Saturday starting 5/30.

We might make this recurring, but let's focus on meeting once first. I hope enough people are interested to make it worthwhile -- I'm in if at least three other people are.

Chris Lemler | May 15, 2020
I would be in 100 percent. It would be nice to talk to Samir and Steve West and other players that would be interested in doing this that I haven't met. Everybody nice on this site. If you do week nights Tuesdays and Wednesday are good for me cause I'm off. Sundays at 1 cause I work overnights..

Samir Mehta | May 15, 2020
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Denise Sawicki | May 15, 2020
I know I don't really participate much on the site lately but I'd be up for it. Any time evenings or weekends probably works for me.

Chris Lemler | May 15, 2020
My mom is in too

Erik Bates | May 16, 2020
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Steve West | May 16, 2020
I'm interested.

Scott Hardie | May 16, 2020
Kelly's interested too.

Let's plan for Wednesday May 20, at 9:30 ET / 8:30 CT. If anyone needs another time, please feel free to ask; I'm sure we can make it work.

This should be fun! :-)

LaVonne Lemler | May 17, 2020
Can't wait --- should be a fun time!

Matthew Preston | May 20, 2020
Oh no! I'm seeing this too late and can't make it. I have a regular zoom meeting / gaming event on Wednesday nights. Let me know when the next one happens and I'll be sure to plan accordingly. Have fun tonight all!

Samir Mehta | May 20, 2020
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Erik Bates | May 20, 2020
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Steve West | May 20, 2020
I'm still in.

Scott Hardie | May 21, 2020
I had a blast talking to you all last night. That was fun! And yes, Steve, every commercial really is the same right now.

Matthew and Samir, I was sorry to see that you couldn't make it. Hopefully you can join us for the next one. Erik offered to put together a trivia game for the next call.

We plan to meet again on Tuesday June 2 at 8pm ET / 7pm CT. I hope that this earlier time will suit everyone.

Matthew Preston | May 21, 2020
I'm in. See you all on 06/02/20.

Erik Bates | May 21, 2020
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Erik Bates | June 1, 2020
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Scott Hardie | June 1, 2020
I am!

Steve West | June 1, 2020
I'm there.

Chris Lemler | June 1, 2020
I'm in and so is my mom. Hope Samir and Matt can join

Kelly Lee | June 2, 2020
I'm in!

Matthew Preston | June 2, 2020
See you tonight!

Samir Mehta | June 2, 2020
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Matthew Preston | June 3, 2020
Great fun last night! I am grateful to have finally met Chris, LaVonne, and Erik. Many thanks to Erik (and Steve) for the trivia questions. Anything to keep my brain moving, and not focused on world affairs right now, is welcomed. Hope we can do it again sometime!

Chris Lemler | June 3, 2020
Matt is was finally a pleasure to meet you too. Just like Matt said thank you Erik and Steve for the trivia questions had a awesome time.

Steve West | June 3, 2020
That's very gracious but Erik deserves all of the plaudits. Well conceived, cleverly accomplished and thoroughly enjoyable. I loved seeing everyone and thanks for the polite titters at my attempted witticisms. See you all again soon, I hope.

Scott Hardie | June 3, 2020
I really enjoyed that too! Thanks for putting together the trivia, guys. That was fun! I'll schedule another talk shortly.

Matthew Preston | June 4, 2020
I mentioned toward the end of our call that I would be protesting the following night. Here is an article about the event that we attended as a family. It had a great turnout, but was incredibly nerve racking what with the whole global pandemic thing. We distanced ourselves from others by choosing a spot further down the road and set in a little. Most everyone was respectful of the 6-feet rule and I would say it was a good 90%+ rate of masks (I say most everyone, because toddlers have their own agendas sometimes).

A note on the article. The photo gallery at the top of it aren't pictures from the event, but rather a collection of shots from around Milwaukee. I don't know why it's laid out in the way it is. But anyway, just keep scrolling past it.

Scott Hardie | June 7, 2020
Good on you to get out there with your family, Matthew. It's a good thing to do and a good lesson in civic engagement for the kids. I can't help but wonder how much larger the protests would be without the pandemic. (And I don't understand news website layout either. So many news websites these days just auto-play video at the top that has nothing to do with the article, then keep playing the video in the corner while you scroll down. So annoying! It must be ad revenue because I don't see another explanation.)

Scott Hardie | June 7, 2020
I'm not sure who's up for a third round of chat, but for those interested, here's scheduling something. Please join us on June 23 at 8pm ET.

If you don't mind, let's switch from Zoom to Google Meet for my sake. If anyone lacks a Google account or otherwise can't use that service, please say so.

I'd be up for another round of pub-style trivia if anyone wants to put it together. (Erik? Steve? Anyone?) But with or without the trivia, I'm also looking for good conversation, the same as the last two times. :-)

If you're planning to be there, please say so, so that we have a rough count of how many to expect. Thanks!

Matthew Preston | June 8, 2020
As it stands now, I'm going to play that date by ear. We'll likely be in a cabin in the woods that week and the 23rd is Liz's birthday. If I can pop in, I certainly will!

Steve West | June 8, 2020
I should be there. I'll try to do thematic rounds like Erik. Maybe.

Samir Mehta | June 9, 2020
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Erik Bates | June 9, 2020
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Steve West | June 9, 2020
I've worked out 5 themes. Now to make the questions not so tough. Thanks Erik and I thought you could use a break. You get the next one, maybe.

Erik Bates | June 22, 2020
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Steve West | June 23, 2020
I'm here - asking to join. It's Brenda's birthday BTW. Singing would be nice.

Chris Lemler | June 23, 2020
I'm here- ready to join too

Scott Hardie | June 24, 2020
It was great to talk to you all last night. I needed that conversation, and the trivia game that followed was fun! Steve, thanks for organizing the game.

We'll do this again on Tuesday, July 21, at 8pm ET. Erik's wife Pam has offered to run another trivia game that night.

Samir Mehta | June 24, 2020
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Scott Hardie | July 20, 2020
Here's a reminder that we're on for tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it! :-D

Steve West | July 20, 2020
I'm there. I could use the distractive enjoyment.

Erik Bates | July 21, 2020
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Scott Hardie | July 22, 2020
I really enjoyed that. Erik, please tell Pam that she did a terrific job at running the trivia game! It was great talking to you all again. :-)

Steve West | July 22, 2020
Second that! Thanks, Pam. Excuse my pedantry and pedantics but I don't get to do this often enough. Fun and funniness!

Chris Lemler | July 22, 2020
Had a blast. Was wondering when the next meet will be Scott?

Erik Bates | July 22, 2020
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Scott Hardie | July 23, 2020
Who else is interested in another virtual gathering like this in August? I'm happy to have the chats, but I can also sense waning energy with each call, so I'll understand if it's not for everybody. This last call seemed to pick up when we started discussing Celebrity Goo Game, so maybe staying on Funeratic as a topic would make a difference? If people want more trivia, I'm up for running a game myself.

Steve West | July 23, 2020
I'm there. You can run a game that outshines mine, I'm sure. Looking forward to that .

Erik Bates | July 28, 2020
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Chris Lemler | July 28, 2020
I am I always have fun

Samir Mehta | July 28, 2020
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Scott Hardie | August 4, 2020
How about August 25, around 8pm ET? Please let me know if that day doesn't work for you.

Erik Bates | August 10, 2020
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Scott Hardie | August 24, 2020
Here's a reminder that we are on for tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to some fun trivia and good conversation. Let's do this!

Erik Bates | August 24, 2020
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Steve West | August 24, 2020
I should be there. Love them.

Scott Hardie | August 25, 2020
Kelly will be there. She asked me to mention in advance that she suffered an eye injury on Friday and her eye is dark from internal bleeding. She's fine, there's no vision impairment and almost no pain; it just looks bad and will take a few weeks to heal. She didn't want anybody to be surprised or to wonder what's up when they see her.

Steve West | August 25, 2020
Aye, Aye, Cap'n. But no more pirate jokes.

Scott Hardie | September 8, 2020
We had so much fun playing rebuses and other games at the last chat that Steve has planned another night of live games.

Let's meet on Tuesday, September 29 at 8pm. If anyone needs another day or time, please say so. Here's the chat.

This should be fun. Thanks for putting this together, Steve!

Erik Bates | September 8, 2020
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Scott Hardie | September 23, 2020
Steve pointed out that the first presidential debate will happen that night, so let's push this back a week to October 6 instead.

Erik Bates | September 23, 2020
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Scott Hardie | October 5, 2020
Reminder: We're meeting again tomorrow night at 8pm for more conversation and a game by Steve. Here's looking forward to some fun. :-)

Erik Bates | October 5, 2020
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Steve West | October 5, 2020
It's good to go.

Scott Hardie | October 6, 2020
Thank you Steve! I had a blast! Great talking to everybody tonight. :-D

Erik Bates | October 7, 2020
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Steve West | October 7, 2020
Maybe a little too challenging; I'll work on that. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking a game is easier than it is because you already know the answers. Hope it was fun nonetheless.

Chris Lemler | October 7, 2020
I had a awesome time