George had Tina and I over to play games, and we chose Scythe. Tina had played a few times before, but George and I hadn’t played before. I didn’t understand exactly how to go about things at the start, and did some really stupid moves. Besides the stupid moves I was feeling a bit out of it from the fast I had been doing. Tina didn’t quite double our scores, but she was way out in front. We had a good time with it and I would love to play again.
This was a very contentious book. I liked what it implied in the way of technology not changing the human condition of being superstitious and irrational. The mirroring of the past and present was well done, and figuring out which bits were supposed to relate to each other was fun. This did make the characters more of caricatures in many instances, so the people who didn’t really pick up on the mirroring hated the book with a passion. To be fair I didn’t really pick up on the mirroring until the second read through. There were also a lot of characters that were supposed to be irrational and portray the worst parts of human nature. Those characters annoyed the hell out of most of the people who read the book. There were also a few that got annoyed by the main characters because of their blind spots. Another complaint was the trope of someone going unconscious just when they needed to do or say something. This was a bit overused throughout the book. The last complaint was the miss on technology, in that there were no cell phones.
I did an 80 hour fast this week from 11pm on Monday to 9am on Friday. It wasn’t as hard as I was expecting, but it was uncomfortable in ways I didn’t. I should have expected not being able to think as clearly, but it was more pronounced than I would have thought. I also started getting light headed at times. I started feeling sick in other ways and decided to stop.
During the fast I had black coffee, mint tea, diet coke, and lots of water. I also took multivitamins and ate random pinches of salt. I chose a time that wouldn’t mess with social engagements too much, although the time period did include a wedding celebration. That wedding celebration was low key enough that I could avoid food with only one person wondering why. In total I only had to mention it to 2 people, the one at the wedding and one that invited me to dinner. I also told Steph. I’d do it again, but maybe with more prep.
I broke my fast with my standard two scoops of chocolate protein powder mixed with half a scoop of instant coffee breakfast. My stomach was ok with that, so I’ll try a bit more at lunch and maybe have pho for dinner.
I went to Nick’s wedding celebration in the Mission in SF. He had it at an adorable brewpub and restaurant called Southpaw BBQ & Brewery. The only person there, besides Nick, that I knew well was Brian. I talked with him for most of the time, and got to talk to Eric and Andrea for a while as well. I had to leave early to make it back to my house to host book club, but I enjoyed the time I spent there.
On Sunday I dropped Stephanie off at the airport for her latest trip to China. Then I went to Tina’s for long games day. I had a good time playing with Jonathan in Feast for Odin. I would have preferred to play Mage Knight, but it worked out that I could meet up with Lindsay, Kevin, Debby, and Andrew for dinner. The Mage Knight game was only about 2/3 of the way through when I left. I won Feast, but that wasn’t a bit surprise as I had played before and Jonathan was doing it for his first time. He did really well, and saw the strategies I used and copied them. That led to some blocking of spaces I wanted as we were trying to use most of the same actions.
At dinner we had some tasty Indian food. I really enjoyed the Tandori Chicken, but it was more of skillet than clay pot. We went to Lindsay’s afterward and Andrew had thought ahead and brought swim trunks for me to wear to the hot tub. We talked about doing a movie night and I set up some methodology for deciding what to watch.
We went hiking with Steph’s coworkers and SO’s (Kaijen, Michael, Pete, and Julie). We went up to Windy Hill, and thankfully this time there wasn’t rain. We also started at the bottom, which was easier to get to as we didn’t have to drive on Old La Honda. I hate that road, and usually drive further to get to La Honda so I don’t have to deal with the one lane, blind corners, and bikers everywhere. The temperature was perfect, and there was lots of sun, which we were prepared for. As per usual I was faster going uphill than most of the others, but much slower going downhill. The knee brace I’ve been using helps a ton, but I’m still careful when going down.
After the hike we went to Rong’s place to watch Akira and My Neighbor Totoro with her and Riley.
We had Shabu Shabu with Kevin, Lindsay, Debby, and Andrew. We were late because I chose poorly on my way to get there, and there was a ton of traffic. The food was pretty good. Steph and I did some trades for the things we liked more, and the others got the giant plates of meat. To be fair Andrew got the giant plate, and the others got the big plates of meat. They were going to se ‘It’ afterwards, but Stephanie and I decided we would rather go home and watch The Defenders. Debby got some red noses for them to wear to the movie, but Kevin declined from what I hear.
I signed up for a food delivery service, that sends fruits and veggies on a weekly basis. The first delivery came in on Wednesday.
I am so far happy with the first box. I’ve cooked most of it already, and had people over for dinner to share in the bounty. I cooked roasted peppers (from the garden, not delivery), guacamole, turmeric chicken, potato leak soup, steamed beets, and sliced up veggies for chips.
It all turned out well and I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone who came. I am especially glad that Steph gets to see these people before she ships out to China again.
Stephanie and I went to Atlanta for Jeff and Katie’s wedding. I got there a few days earlier than her, and spent some time with the family. The original plan was to spend time in Birmingham to see Nana, but that fell through as planning for the wedding took precedence. We ended up walking around a bit and I helped around with random chores. I cleaned my parents porch and helped Jeff install a ceiling fan.
We went to the rehearsal on Friday evening, and it was a pretty relaxed affair. We walked around a lot. Mitch, Katie’s brother, and I walked around the most, as we were seating lots of family members. We then went to the rehearsal dinner, and it was delicious, but loud in the small room. Stephanie landed and I grabbed some leftovers for her. I managed to time it perfectly with getting to the hotel as she was checking in. We had an early night as we were both pretty tired.
The next morning I let her sleep in as I had to get to the groomsman activities. We met up at 11 at Jeff’s hotel room and watched a sports game. I felt a little like the odd man out, but it was still a good time. We got to the venue right on time, and I stole a bit of time to talk to Nana and say hi to Fred. I had made a silly birthday card for Nana, which was a popup flower. The wedding was gorgeous, and everything went well. We did lots of pictures afterwards. Stephanie was tired at the reception, so we went outside and sat on the porch. She took a nap in a rocking chair while I participated in the garter toss. It went much better than last time. Not only did I not get a black eye, but I caught the garter.
The next day we went to the botanical gardens and had some tasty chocolate. There were a few stations spread around serving different chocolate things. My favorite was a chocolate cheese, which was surprisingly good. I took Steph to the airport, and on the way we stopped by Holman and Finch and the High Museum.
Monday was interesting, as Irma was coming through Atlanta. The power went out in the early afternoon, and it stayed out until lunchtime Tuesday. Nothing too exciting happened when the power was out, and when we drove around on Tuesday morning, we saw that much of Atlanta was without power. There weren’t too many trees down, but a whole lot of branches were down.
Wednesday I helped Kim with some packing, then Levi Lowrey came by and got a guitar from my dad. They played a bit together, and Levi played some on his new guitar as well.
I got the airport with plenty of time to spare, since the traffic was lighter than expected, and the line at security was less than five minutes. I was soooooo ready to get back home after nearly a month of travelling.
Back in Redwood City, my kitties were happy to see me. Steph was too.
It's an Exciting World 