Usually my summers include a lot of travel, mostly for conventions. There have been years when I’ve done Origins, ComicCon, and GenCon in the span of six weeks. Then in the fall things calm down. This year the opposite is developing. I’m going to GenCon this summer and that’s it, but I may have up to five trips in the fall.

Origins is going on right now. I’ve only missed one since it moved to Columbus in the mid-90s. Although I was glad not to have to stress about planning a trip, I had wondered if I’d wish I was there once it happened. To my surprise, I really don’t. It’d surely be nice to spend some time with the GR crew and other friends, but GenCon is in six weeks anyway. As it is I’ve been able to stay here and work on 40K and that’s for the best.

I was morbidly curious about the Origins Awards, though like last year GR declined to participate. The winners were announced this morning and the very first one listed was 2005 Game of the Year for Warmachine: Apotheosis. The trouble: Apotheosis is not a game, it’s a supplement. This makes it a rather funny choice, particularly when Warmachine itself already won an Origins Award for Best Minis Game a couple of years back. I think this is the sort of thing that continues to undermine what good intentioned people try to accomplish when they volunteer to work on the OAs. If the category is really Product of the Year, fine, make it so. It is not unreasonable to expect that an award for Game of the Year actually be a game, however. (And to be clear, I’m not knocking on Privateer. They are a fine company and make some great minis.)

This morning instead of standing in a booth at a con I was at Salty’s on Alki for a belated birthday brunch with Nik and Kate. Salty’s is right on the water and has an amazing view of downtown Seattle across the bay. Their brunch is terrific and we hadn’t been there since last summer, so we made the most of it. I’ve spent the rest of the day working but that’s a lot easier when one is fueled by smoked salmon, raw oysters, crab legs, prime rib, key lime pie, and chocolate mousse. Good stuff.