Dawn of the Revenge of the Bride of the Son of the Rochambeau X
Yesterday was a fun day.
Well, it's the weekend, so of course staff have been doing all sorts of fun things. Going out to trips, excursions to the lake and mini golf, showing up late to the dances...you know the drill. In addition to the normal shenanigans, I took part in a slightly longer excursion yesterday evening. zandperl2 alerted me to a free TMBG concert in Philadeplhia from 6:30 to 8, and really, how can you pass up an opportunity like that? So we spent an hour and a half on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to go see them play. It was, unsurprisingly, quite fun. I was a bit disappointed that the setlist as very similar to the concert I saw in Boston last September, but really, there's no such thing as a bad TMBG concert. Also, they didn't play any Canon songs (i.e., "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Istanbul"), which was a mild disappointment as we were missing most of the dance to be there. But a lot of good music was played, and the Johns were, of course, entertaining. They thanked their sponsors for entirely inappropriate things, made up a song about their having to face into the west at sunset ("Squint, squint, squint. All that I can do is squint, squint, squint. Nothing really rhymes with squint, squint, squint. Squint."), and gave props to all the childless adults during "Clap Your Hands." The concert did end earlier than expected, but that gave us more opportunity to get back to Lancaster in time for the end of the dance. Pie went off without any collisions this time, thankfully.
After the dance came the annual Rochambeau tournament. But this wasn't just any Rochambeau tournament; this was the 10th Annual Rochambeau Tournament. Mayor Quimby made a special trip up just to emcee the event, and with the help of many, came up with a tournament format that incorporated every special sign from the past nine years. All told, we had over twenty signs to choose from. Special signs from different years were resolved by playing a side game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, except in the finals (more on which below). Signs from the same year interacted the same way as before, so we had games of Smush and Wheel of Fortune, double-Fob fusings, and the dreaded double-Tornado elimination. (which is how I went out, even though I was up 2-0 in the match. But it was definitely a fun way to lose.) We also had two special signs particular to 2005, in a manner of speaking:
* Staff has had to endure a number of unusual circumstances this summer. We live directly above the main office, so students can pass through our common area at any time, and we had a documentary crew filming our every move for the first session. It really feels like we're living in a glass house, and, of course, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw Rock. The first special throw was that Rock was disallowed in the tournament.
* Due to budgetary constraints, we have had certain shortages in the office. In particular, we have gone without paper for the copiers for over a day at a time. (No, really. On the rare occasions that all three copiers actually work, we have tended to be without paper.) Thus, it behooves us to conserve our resources, so the second special throw is a lack of Paper.
* The above restrictions only apply to the main throws of the tournament. All side games, including resolutions for inter-year throws and determination of who goes first in Wheel of Fortune and Beat-O-Balloon, are done via classic Rock, Paper, Scissors, with no additional signs (or anti-signs).
The rules took 45 minutes, one giant spreadsheets, and two posters covered with photos and misdirected graphs to explain, and with 18 people, the double-elimination tournament took over 2 hours, ending after 2:30. The pace of the tournament was certainly not helped by the change in the rules for the finals. If two signs from different years faced off, they were not resolved by a simple side game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Instead, each finalist got one minute to explain why they felt their sign should win. The finalist from the winner's bracket got to go second, as an added bonus for not having lost yet. There were four judges who then had to decide which explanation they preferred. If they reached a unanimous decision then it was clear which sign won. But if one or more judges voted for each explanation, then the judges resolved their differences through -- you guessed it -- Rock, Paper, Scissors. Judges from each side would face off in single-throw matches until one side was eliminated. If it was 2-2, you'd basically have a little tournament among the four of them, but if it was 3-1, the lone dissenter would have to face each majority judge and win all three throws for his side to be victorious. The match proceeded in this manner until the two finalists were tied at 3-3, with one throw left to decide the winner. The two finalists gave their arguments, but the judges unanimously decided not to decide. Instead, the winner would be determined by a classic Rock, Paper, Scissors match, best of 3. It was all quite thrilling to watch. Really.
I'll give you some of the in-game highlights later, but I've gone on too long. I may write up a full report, much like my report on the 2000 pizza-eating contest, but hopefully without the one-year lag.
-TT
Well, it's the weekend, so of course staff have been doing all sorts of fun things. Going out to trips, excursions to the lake and mini golf, showing up late to the dances...you know the drill. In addition to the normal shenanigans, I took part in a slightly longer excursion yesterday evening. zandperl2 alerted me to a free TMBG concert in Philadeplhia from 6:30 to 8, and really, how can you pass up an opportunity like that? So we spent an hour and a half on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to go see them play. It was, unsurprisingly, quite fun. I was a bit disappointed that the setlist as very similar to the concert I saw in Boston last September, but really, there's no such thing as a bad TMBG concert. Also, they didn't play any Canon songs (i.e., "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Istanbul"), which was a mild disappointment as we were missing most of the dance to be there. But a lot of good music was played, and the Johns were, of course, entertaining. They thanked their sponsors for entirely inappropriate things, made up a song about their having to face into the west at sunset ("Squint, squint, squint. All that I can do is squint, squint, squint. Nothing really rhymes with squint, squint, squint. Squint."), and gave props to all the childless adults during "Clap Your Hands." The concert did end earlier than expected, but that gave us more opportunity to get back to Lancaster in time for the end of the dance. Pie went off without any collisions this time, thankfully.
After the dance came the annual Rochambeau tournament. But this wasn't just any Rochambeau tournament; this was the 10th Annual Rochambeau Tournament. Mayor Quimby made a special trip up just to emcee the event, and with the help of many, came up with a tournament format that incorporated every special sign from the past nine years. All told, we had over twenty signs to choose from. Special signs from different years were resolved by playing a side game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, except in the finals (more on which below). Signs from the same year interacted the same way as before, so we had games of Smush and Wheel of Fortune, double-Fob fusings, and the dreaded double-Tornado elimination. (which is how I went out, even though I was up 2-0 in the match. But it was definitely a fun way to lose.) We also had two special signs particular to 2005, in a manner of speaking:
* Staff has had to endure a number of unusual circumstances this summer. We live directly above the main office, so students can pass through our common area at any time, and we had a documentary crew filming our every move for the first session. It really feels like we're living in a glass house, and, of course, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw Rock. The first special throw was that Rock was disallowed in the tournament.
* Due to budgetary constraints, we have had certain shortages in the office. In particular, we have gone without paper for the copiers for over a day at a time. (No, really. On the rare occasions that all three copiers actually work, we have tended to be without paper.) Thus, it behooves us to conserve our resources, so the second special throw is a lack of Paper.
* The above restrictions only apply to the main throws of the tournament. All side games, including resolutions for inter-year throws and determination of who goes first in Wheel of Fortune and Beat-O-Balloon, are done via classic Rock, Paper, Scissors, with no additional signs (or anti-signs).
The rules took 45 minutes, one giant spreadsheets, and two posters covered with photos and misdirected graphs to explain, and with 18 people, the double-elimination tournament took over 2 hours, ending after 2:30. The pace of the tournament was certainly not helped by the change in the rules for the finals. If two signs from different years faced off, they were not resolved by a simple side game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Instead, each finalist got one minute to explain why they felt their sign should win. The finalist from the winner's bracket got to go second, as an added bonus for not having lost yet. There were four judges who then had to decide which explanation they preferred. If they reached a unanimous decision then it was clear which sign won. But if one or more judges voted for each explanation, then the judges resolved their differences through -- you guessed it -- Rock, Paper, Scissors. Judges from each side would face off in single-throw matches until one side was eliminated. If it was 2-2, you'd basically have a little tournament among the four of them, but if it was 3-1, the lone dissenter would have to face each majority judge and win all three throws for his side to be victorious. The match proceeded in this manner until the two finalists were tied at 3-3, with one throw left to decide the winner. The two finalists gave their arguments, but the judges unanimously decided not to decide. Instead, the winner would be determined by a classic Rock, Paper, Scissors match, best of 3. It was all quite thrilling to watch. Really.
I'll give you some of the in-game highlights later, but I've gone on too long. I may write up a full report, much like my report on the 2000 pizza-eating contest, but hopefully without the one-year lag.
-TT