Day 73 of 100

“What are you doing in the basement?”

I was pretty nerdy in high school. Perhaps that’s a shock, perhaps not. I am very particular about the difference between geek and nerd, and I am 100% on the nerdy side.

One of my favorite things I did in high school was play Dungeons and Dragons with some friends. We would go to one of our houses — never my house, with two very little sisters it wasn’t actually a great place to host a game — We would get huge sandwiches from Togo’s and two-liters of soda from the store.

(Side note: Togo’s is a Northern California institution. Or at least it was. It had a huge wooden menu where every sandwich had a number, and they sold Orange Whip, which was the ghetto version of Orange Julius. It got its name because the sign at the original one said “Sandwiches TOGO,” so it became Togos. I believe it is now owned by Dunkin’ Donuts.)

The group of us would play for an entire weekend in one shot. We would stay up and my friend Matt would make truly intimidating maps and stories. I started to buy and paint miniatures to use in the game, and I collected hundreds of dice and dozens of books.

The game had been around for less than ten years, and there was a huge scare that we were becoming Satan worshippers.

We weren’t.

We just loved the imagination and problem solving. The camaraderie and friendship.

I stopped playing soon after high school, and it wasn’t until a few years ago my friend Dylan invited me to a game. The guys who play are all adults, dads, have jobs. But every couple of weeks, we get to have fun as elves, orcs, druids, paladins, and sorcerers, and for a few hours I am reminded of Togo’s sandwiches and two liters and a group of friends that I think fondly of daily.

PS, If you haven’t seen the Dungeons & Dragons movie, it’s pretty fun.