Cookout Day
They’re starting to assemble the gaming halls in the ICC, so grabbed a few pictures.
Dithered a bit on shorts Vs jeans, but went with the shorts & didn’t regret the decision. ( Packed a warmer layer just in case )

About five minutes before Tom picked me up the JW Forecourt suddenly turned into car-filled chaos. There’s a Motorsport … Something … Happening, and it flipped from “there are a bunch of cars, but the centre lane is moving” to “creeping gridlock”.

Tom’s new office.
I have rented places less nicely done than this. Parua Bay out towards Whangarei Heads springs to mind.
Patio area out one end, where the grill was set up, laundry facilities, kitchen, wall of boardgames, resident cat, …
The cookout was an American Breakfast themed event; didn’t know that was a thing, but there are many things I don’t know, so this is one more.
Bacon, Sausage Patty Things, Scrambled Eggs, Biscuits+Gravy, Hash Browns (pile of shredded potato, not big tater tot), a sort of peppers+onion thing, and three sorts of French toast (two with a breakfast cereal crust)

And an apple pie which was intended to go back with me, but was then eaten with enthusiasm once I told them that I have no fridge in the hotel room.
So. Much. Good. Food.

It was sort of a combination work cookout, neighborhood cookout, & weird foreign accent guy;
Tom & Dawn ( who made the apple pie, & gave me a ‘junk journal’ she made for me )
A cast of folks who work or have worked for Tom
Tom’s parents, who I met back in 2016
Their neighbor’s son, who is a local? judge.
Kevin, who I know from Gen Con via Tom.
Now that I think of it, a similar vibe to an NZ beach/campground BBQ, where you can end up with a wild variety of people based on who’s around that you know.

It was an awesome day.