Board Games Group

So because Adam and I are new to here I have made a very concentrated effort to meet new people and find things for us to do. One of the things was a board game group. They meet every Monday in a rundown office building room and play board games for hours. For the most part I enjoy it; but I am getting a little frustrated. We have been taught all of these great games, we play them once, and inevitably lose and then not play them again. I find this to be irritating. I want to play more. As I was losing I figured out why I was losing and I want to play again so that I can try another strategy. Sigh, but most times the other gamers don't want to play again and I am set up to learn another game, and lose again. It really starts to wear on one's ego.
Most of the games that are played are strategy games, and I have discovered that I really like them. There are a few party games, such as Taboo, Uno, Balderdash etc etc. And Apples to Apples. Arg. Can we discuss how Apples is an unpleasant game? It's completely random, and could be interesting if you knew the people you were playing with, but when you are the unknown playing with a variety of people who have a plethora of inside jokes, you are destined to lose the game. I think a fun alternative would to be very drunk then play. Although I don't like drinking, and it would be bad for me to be drunk around people I don't know well. I tend to really come out of my shell and demonstrate to the whole world just how witty and or snarky I can be. Unless you have known me for a while, it's something better left alone, it seems that most people just don't understand wit and or sarcasm.
So rewind to last Friday night. We were playing games with a group of the other gamers at a "private" game time. (IE not everyone is invited) One of the guys who generally has the better games brought another new game to teach us all. Apparently it is a German game, and apparently the Germans are known for their strategy games. As the Game Bringer, lets call him Ed, since that is his name, so as Ed explains the lengthy complicated convoluted rules I comment how it seems complicated. Really I was just wishing we could just dive in and learn as we go since it was such a convoluted game. Ed thought I was wanting to play something else. Which wouldn't have been a bad idea since the explanation was long and tedious and I just wanted to play something, and not feel like I was back in uni learning probability all over again.
Moving on, we are still getting the game explained to us, and I have decided that if the instructions were read to us in pig Latin they would have made more sense. So to lighten the tense aura at the table, or to merely amuse myself I comment that the guy who invented the game must have never been laid. HONESTLY INTERNET! It was THAT intricate and multi-stepped! Anyhow I was met with bizarre looks and I quietly reminded myself that these people are not ready for the full wrath that is me, so I averted my eyes and placidly listened to the rest of the instructions.
FINALLY we get to play the game. We decide that a shortened version would be nice, and we play. I proceed to get my ass handed to me, and am chided that I am using the not accepted strategy. I acknowledge this and continue on my merry way, even suggesting that we play the longer game, not the shorter one as we agreed on. I am again met with shocked stares and I do a quick assessment of my face. Yes eyes are in the proper spot, nose is not leaking all over the table and there isn't anything hanging from my mouth. Why the stares? Oh yes, I asked to play the game longer and I was clearly, by their standards, losing. Mostly I just wanted to demonstrate that I had a grasp what I was doing and that my method would work out.
So we play more, I kick ass and don't come in dead last, or even to next to dead last, hell I did extremely well considering the game is quite complicated.
Anyhow I post all this in response to Ed's comment to the group on how he made an Apples to Apples group play Power Grid.
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/116015

Here is the link to the comment.
I felt the need to post this response because A) I can, B) I think that I was misunderstood and thought to be a spinney blonde and C) oh I can!
cheers!