another p.o.v. (this is kinda long, too)

yes, i agree with channon on one thing: the current location has gotten old. i understand maybe using the same place for the first couple weeks. it gives the characters some place to establish a pattern, and meet each other. to change location every week would be a little odd; to constantly be running into the same group of people in sometimes unlikely locales would be odd, and larping is about trying to make a game seem like real life. for my character: he was out on a "walk". yes, he really was out on patrol, but the lake is a logical place for someone to go for an evening walk. but now that we've gotten things going, our characters know each other and are schemeing, it is time for us to branch out in the community.
however, we can't just say, oh, let's go play at the mall, or at dickinson or millersville or a different park. yeah, it certainly would bring a fresh environment, but because the story is so important to larp (this ain't hack and slash d&d), changing locations must fit into the storyline. perhaps a contact will be met at the mall, and a character(s) will need to be at this new location for the deal to go down. maybe the others will be brought into the game there, too, when they overhear that something interesting will be happening at the mall, which may potentially involve them at some point.
so, yes, we need to change. it would be a breath of fresh air to play somewhere else that doesn't necessarily have a body of water in or near it and allows for a more traversing. BUT, we need to change our location IN CHARACTER. for one, it'll save us some time on dumb conversation, like, "oh, hey, funny to see you here tonight." "yeah, well, uhhhh...(insert overtly transparent reason here just to continue on with the game)."
i think all this is what jim, and then richard, are trying to say: the game is what we make of it. understandably, it has taken us some time to get used to our characters, and especially the rules. and meeting only once a week hasn't helped much in that department. but it's nothing that can be helped. it has taken a little patience on everyone's part (yes, jim's especially; we love ya, jim, we really do), but i think now that we're getting the hang of it, it definitely is time we take advantage of the last couple weeks of planning to really get this game off the ground. we're not bound to hand-drawn maps and taverns, we've got an entire mid-state at our disposal, and the collective imaginations to use it. we have to step out of the table-top mindset that we're chained to a character sheet and some numbers. what we have esentially created are real people. without going too far, yes, it is just a game, but one that's meant to emulate real life.
for instance, the matters of influence and resources that have come up in recent emails: in out of character time you can't just look at your sheet and say, oh, i have street3, therefore i'll email the storyteller and/or narrator and say, i have street3, therefore i get a sawed-off shotgun next round. you want a sawed-off shotgun, or any other item for that matter, yes, contact one of the above persons, but realize they aren't God. shotguns don't fall from the sky. make the arrangements in character on the forum or during game time. if the request is feasible, i'm sure jim or steve or rachel will conspire to make it happen, but in character.
i'm probably telling you all things you already know, and i apologize. i'm just saying, to make this thing enjoyable, we have to step away from the numbers on the character sheets.

now, as for secondary characters. it's a good idea to have a back up character just in case. besides, i'm sure we've all got about a dozen different character ideas floating around anyways. still, i think trying to juggle too many characters may present some difficulties. in theory, it's good. it makes up for our lack of players, tho it does lead to a lot of, "out of character: who are you now?" that may be unavoidable, especially in the dark, but too many characters may lead to some confusion. in the future, it may be more feasible, as we become comfortable with our current characters, and their roles in the overall story. i know my character just finally is beginning to be truly involved in the goings-on at the lake. it wasn't without any attempt; i don't know how many social/mental challenges i must've failed in my attempts to investigate. but, the other characters decided that this puny mortal who keeps showing up, looking ready for a serious fight, might actually have something to do with what's happening. so, through role-playing, gabriel finally had his suspicions confirmed. tho the garou were a little more forthcoming than they probably would've liked, still the veil remained intact, because of role-playing.
anyways, while i think it's good we have another character or two waiting in the wings, i think at this still early point of the game, we should focus on our primary characters and their role. if you find your character to be secondary and you want someone else to play with to make your night more interesting, that's fine, or if you just want a change of pace (e.g., rachel deciding to use an english brujah existentialist in place of her toreador for some of last week's game). basically, i'm not saying use more characters just for the sake of expanding the roster. use more should it fit the game and the story. sometimes less is more, or at least adequate. remember, we're playing in boiling springs for cryin' out loud. i don't think the town is going to have a very large supernatural population. i think a motley pack of garou and assorted kindred are already quite the collection.

ok, i think i'm finally done. sorry to put you all through all the above, but i guess i had something to finally say.