Not exactly Dana Tanamachi (Google her work) but it helps to get the point across. This is what greeted me at The King’s Head Pub.

No, this isn’t a commentary on the 80s Marvel Comics mashup, it’s my take on this past month’s Secret Handshake.

This will be a quick one. I wasn’t there very long. It was my first real outing by myself since Aiden was born (not including going to work) and I was feeling a little guilty going out by myself and leaving my wife with the baby all night. And it was a video game tournament themed evening. While I do appreciate the time and effort going into making games (and playing them), I left my video game playing days long behind me.

The few hours I was there were interesting. It was nice to see a few familiar faces and meet some new ones. There was someone there from the life drawing class I used to attend. I’ve been too busy as of late to attend any of the classes and I’m not too certain I’ll be going back any time soon. I’ve been going to the Winnipeg Art Gallery for quite a few years now and wouldn’t mind a bit of a change. I hear the classes at the Cre8ery are pretty good. I might start going there in a few months once I have a better idea what my routine as a Dad will be.

Once the evening was well underway, the video game tournament started up. All the games were played on a “portable” version of the Winnitron, an open source arcade game I blogged about a while ago. Anything that was on the game system was fair game for the tournament, but everyone seemed to gravitate to Nidhogg, a two person fencing game. I understand competition became quite fierce.

A little after grabbing something to eat, I headed for home. Once I arrived home, I was greeted with some pretty big smiles! Dad has to work hard for those. Kim gets them pretty easy since she’s with him all day, and the little toy frog that is attached to his car seat gets them pretty easily (they are buddies since they go everywhere together) and that just leaves me. The guy who gives him his baths and puts him to bed. The two things he likes he least. I’ll take the smiles whenever and however I get them!