So last night was the most recent Halo 2 bash, and it was swell.  We started getting set up around 5:00, probably started playing around 6:00, and the last of us went home at about 2:00 a.m.  Russ was a very gratious host - letting 13 people invade his basement and providing brewskis and snacks for everyone.  Jay was kind enough to pursuade his neighbor to lend us a 16-port switch for our 8 XBox consoles and TVs. 

We started out with some Slayer and a few different team games like team slayer, team ball, team King, etc.  At some point we started playing 1-flag CTF on Zanzibar, and things got a bit more intense.  The good team (my team) crushed the bad team (not my team) with a 3-to-1 six-round victory.  Then the bad team wanted a rematch.  In game two, Russ's son John woke up and started pwning the game with the sniper rifle, and it turned out to be ridiculously bad for us as we lost 3-1 in another six-round match.    We had to settle it once and for all with a third and final deciding match, but John kept putting us down non-stop and we lost again.  Since each round is about 3 minutes, the three games were a total hour of intense battles, and we all took a quick breather afterward.

After that it was back to a mix of Slayer and team games, including some 007 (all magnums and no shields) and Dawn of the Dead.  I personally really like 007. 

A few people here and there left starting around 11:00 p.m., but after midnight six of us stuck around to keep going.  Some Assault on Beaver Creek, CTF on Lockout and Beaver Creek, 007 on Burial Mounds, Swords on Lockout. 

John and I took a bunch of pictures and I hope to have them posted tomorrow or sometime next week.  Overall I had a really great time, and I hope everyone else thought the same.  Let's see...  sometime in late March or early April we'll probably do the next one.