austin_dern (austin_dern) wrote,
austin_dern
austin_dern

A light shone in the night some way ahead

Our second convention for the year was Motor City Fur Con, so that should be the theme of relentlessly detailed entries for the next couple days. Before we could go to the con, though, we met up with bunny_hugger's parents so that they could take possession of our pet rabbit and the mouse we're holding in trust. We do that, either going down there or hosting them up here, for any multi-day trip like that and there's not usually much to say about that.

But, this time. Well, bunny_hugger has been talking about the pinball league and how much fun it is playing pinball and the social circles this has put her in. Her parents were curious about the nearby hipster bar where we play, so, after snacks and then dinner we went over there. We played a couple of games, including Medieval Madness and Tales of the Arabian Nights, which are usual pinball league games and here's the important thing: her father did pretty well. He beat me on Arabian Nights, too, which doesn't bode well considering that Arabian Nights is one of the machines we're supposed to play next league night.

It's easy to chalk that up to beginner's luck, but on Monday after the con we went back there --- eating at the bar for a wonder --- and he played very well again in multiple games of Lord of the Rings, Medieval Madness, and Arabian Nights. Is it just beginner's luck? He was doing a lot of that thing beginning players do, of hitting both flippers at once all the time. But he also beat both of us on at least one game apiece, and he'd have nothing to be embarrassed about on league night other than his wandering off after each ball thinking the game was over, and several times he managed to save a ball going between the flippers by hitting both flippers, making the ball hover in the doomed spot a moment, and then tapping the ball just enough to get it back to playable positions.

At this point we really can't rule out that her father is secretly a pinball sharp.

Trivia: Stephen Girard, financier during the War of 1812, endowed a school for orphans in Philadelphia in 1831. His relatives hired Daniel Webster to challenge the will on various grounds, including that Girard allowed for boys to be raised non-religiously. (Webster lost.) Source: Hershey: Milton S Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams, Michael D'Antonio.

Currently Reading: The Concepts and Logic of Classical Thermodynamics as a Theory of Heat Engines, C Truesdell, S Bharatha.

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