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I think "best of three" turned into "best of five" due to my determination to come out victorious. But there was some journalistic value to my endeavor: While we played, we chatted about many a thing. Working an average of 25 hours per week as a web application developer, Dave chooses his own hours, which has been an ideal situation lately given the amount of time he's been spending in recording studios. Just how many hours? Well, he has recently been on the inside of recording studio walls on behalf of Loch Lomond (for the purposes of that outfit's new record), Norfolk & Western, White Hinterland (upcoming EP) and is in the early stages of the new Rauelsson record. Oh, and that subject of just how many band's he is in came up. For the record, he holds a membership in Loch Lomond and Norfolk & Western and is "sorta in White Hinterland and Graves." Glad that's cleared up! Depper has an eventual goal to move into being a full-time musician through his bands.
Turns out that Depper and Loch Lomond bandmate Ritchie both hail from Bend. After learning that, we breached the whole subject of the pronunciation of their band, Loch Lomond. Apparently there's a lake in southern California by that name which is pronounced by residents just as how the band used to pronounce its name (Lock Law-monde) at odds with the more universal way of pronouncing the Scottish lake (Lock Low-mund). Daves band now pronounces itself like the latter.
So who won? In a best out of five, Dave bested me on what I would like to deem a technicality, but can't, so I'm just going to sulk in a corner. My defeat was triggered by one face on my board flipping down. The very face belonging to the mystery person he held in his possession. Let the conspiracy theories fly.
I got pwned:
Tips:
Don't select a female character. Is this game sexist? There are only five females out of a possible 24 Mystery People. It's just too easy to figure out who you are. So basically you're at an instant disadvantage if you play as female. Is this Milton Bradley's socio-political take on society? Hmmm...
It's also worth noting there are only five black characters and 2-3 other characters possibly of color. That percentage is higher than the minority population of Portland, but still pretty low in the scheme of things...
Moving along, after noticing one character looking suspicously like Justin Timberlake (and named "Justin," nonetheless), we switched to the story-telling portion of our meet-up. Not our own stories, those of the characters' mugs adorning each Guess Who? card.
The story of Joseph and Alex:
I went the boring route and quickly proclaimed the pair to be co-workers. On-call librarians for Seattle Public Libraries to be exact.
Dave took a different approach:
Joseph and Alex both attend the same bereavement support group. Joseph joined after the untimely death of his young wife. Alex began attending after the loss of his long-term partner. Eventually, the two fall in love.
The story of Megan and David:
The story according to me is that David is trucker from Vermont. Rising gas prices have placed him in a virtual stalemate. It's too expensive to drive anywhere, but if he doesn't drive he doesn't earn any money. The burly trucker is holed up in his cabin deep in contemplation, verging on depression, all triggered by the economic recession.
Megan is a phone sex operator with whom David has been chatting for months. Through continued correspondence (costing him $1.99 a minute) she convinces him to get back on the road again, if only to see her. While he goes about his cross-country journey to end up in her arms, he'll be able to make a haul and bring in some income along the way. In reality, Megan is a suburban soccer mom with three kids and mini van in Arizona. Hmmm...looks like her husband's going to have some interesting and unexpected company.
(Full disclosure: I drew inspiration for my story from an article about high gas prices hurting brothels.
Dave's take:
David was raised well—the standard life of a good school, good parents, athletic trophies (I'm assuming on the last bit). Then in his college years, David becomes a jihadist. He grows a beard, converts to radical branch of Islam and joins a terrorist sect. He goes about all his extremist duties which culminate in his hi-jacking a plane.
David makes it through the metal detectors, the security personnel and boards the plane. Also on board is Megan. Megan's a flight attendant. All these principals David has held so near and dear to his heart (caged by his ribs and bomb vest) are erased over the course of the flight as he falls for Megan during her continual trips up and down the aisle and adjustment of his seatback. He can no longer carry-out his suicide mission as he just can't kill Megan.
Crisis averted!
The story of James and Rachael:
For James and Rachael we came up with separate story-lines for the characters and then wove them together.
Rachael is actress Rosie Perez's sister and personal assistant. She's not exactly pleased with with that position as she doesn't like playing second fiddle. She longs to come out from behind her sister's shadow and make something of herself on her own terms, not by serving someone else. She's just looking for the right opportunity.
Much like Rosie and Rachael, James is a New York native, raised by an adoptive Pakistani family. He grew up dreaming of a better life for him and the family who raised him, as he worked tireless hours helping out in the family's hole-in-the-wall restaurant that never exactly flourished, but kept the clothes on their back.
Sometime after the untimely death of Luther Vandross, James learns that he is an illegitimate son of the late crooner. He makes his way to LA to collect from the estate.
Rachael reads about his cross-country pursuit on Perez Hilton. While on the site, she also reads about the late hotel operator and "Queen of Mean" Leona Helmsley leaving all her billions to the welfare of dogs. Five to eight billion dollars up for grabs, with the only condition it goes to dogs, but no specified charity? Sounds like an opportunity for Rachael! This is her chance to make something of her own. So she decides she's going to hook up with newly minted James and use his money to start a dog-related business in hopes of being selected by the Helmsley trust as a beneficiary.
According to Dave, James immediately falls in love with Rachael who quickly goes on a spending spree with his money. Months later, the pair is left with a drained bank account and a hopeless number of dogs since there appears no chance of being rescued by the Helmsley trust. It's "to the dogs," as they say.
Rachael can't bare to go back to work for her sister and out of his blinding love for Rachael, James becomes Rosie's personal assistant since they need income stat. The two struggle along, but...
Before James fronted his funds to Rachael, he gave $200K to his adoptive family who in turn used the money to revamp their traditional Pakistani restaurant. Six months later, Time Out New York visits, delivers a five star review and places the eatery on it's cover. Endless business ensues. The restaurant is an overnight (though it was a long time coming) success and expands into a chain of restaurants, therefore ensuring the future financial well-being of James and Rachael. Looks like things turned out A-OK for the two crazy kids in the end. Rosie still seeks personal assistant to help with her Kanye West feud.
Game over.
Links:
Loch LomondSpace
Norfolk & WesternSpace
White HinterlandSpace
GravesSpace
Hush RecordsSpace
WWeek 2015