A Block Party Persuasion

[Chriskaballa]

So it's come time for the sort-of-frequent block party on my block (not annual, but at least once every 3 years or so). And I feel a bit awkward. I'm 17, and the guests I am personally inviting are all aged 17-22, which puts us in an awkward position because of our age... We're not kiddies, but we're not old enough to hang with older people/parents and discuss life and have a drink or whatever on the side. This block party is very little-kid-centric, because so many kids on my block are elementary-school-age or younger.

So... seeing as how we'll have practically nothing to do, the ingenious me inquired with my local arcade manager (who I work for on weekends) about renting his In the Groove 2 dance game machine for the day, since me and my guests are all avid gamers, especially when it comes to music games (Konami's Bemani series and In the Groove in particular). He quoted me a reasonable price, and I'm still dwelling on that. If we get the machine, it will obviously be open for use by everyone, and I know a few other people have at least tried Dance Dance Revolution/In the Groove on my block, so it will see use and entertainment value outside of me and my 6 friends.

My question is threefold.

1) If you were 17 years old and not getting your next paycheck for a month, how would you come up with $150 in two weeks?

2) If I were to petition the organizers of the block party for leftover funds, what argument might I present to persuade them to pay the required $150 for this machine rather than blow it on more kiddie stuff? (Remember, you are trying to get mothers of little kids to give money to make 17-22 year olds happy.)

3) Whether or not I get the machine, is there really anything a group my age could do to entertain ourselves at such a function without staying holded up inside my house playing D&D? (and being holed up OUTSIDE playing D&D is not a suggestion here!)

 

[The Thayan Menace]

???

This is not exactly an RPG question. :\

 

[Timothy]

Well, this is the off-topic forum, and discussing thongs isn't really RPG related either is it?

 

[The_Universe]

So it's come time for the sort-of-frequent block party on my block (not annual, but at least once every 3 years or so). And I feel a bit awkward. I'm 17, and the guests I am personally inviting are all aged 17-22, which puts us in an awkward position because of our age... We're not kiddies, but we're not old enough to hang with older people/parents and discuss life and have a drink or whatever on the side. This block party is very little-kid-centric, because so many kids on my block are elementary-school-age or younger.

So... seeing as how we'll have practically nothing to do, the ingenious me inquired with my local arcade manager (who I work for on weekends) about renting his In the Groove 2 dance game machine for the day, since me and my guests are all avid gamers, especially when it comes to music games (Konami's Bemani series and In the Groove in particular). He quoted me a reasonable price, and I'm still dwelling on that. If we get the machine, it will obviously be open for use by everyone, and I know a few other people have at least tried Dance Dance Revolution/In the Groove on my block, so it will see use and entertainment value outside of me and my 6 friends.

My question is threefold.

1) If you were 17 years old and not getting your next paycheck for a month, how would you come up with $150 in two weeks?

2) If I were to petition the organizers of the block party for leftover funds, what argument might I present to persuade them to pay the required $150 for this machine rather than blow it on more kiddie stuff? (Remember, you are trying to get mothers of little kids to give money to make 17-22 year olds happy.)

3) Whether or not I get the machine, is there really anything a group my age could do to entertain ourselves at such a function without staying holded up inside my house playing D&D? (and being holed up OUTSIDE playing D&D is not a suggestion here!)

1. If I was 17 and needed 150 bucks - I'd ask my parents.

2. If I was petitioning the community for funds, I'd describe the game, let them know that it would be available for *everyone* to use, and then hope they thought it was an interesting idea.

3. Toss a football around? Get a wiffleball and bat and play something with the kiddies? Sit around and eat and chat? Get baseball gloves out and just pass the ball around? Play a boardgame that encourages people to participate - pictionary, taboo, etc. Take the board away and make trivial pursuit more like "Jeopardy." There's hundreds of thousands of things with which you could occupy your time - more than videogames and D&D, certainly.