It's an Exciting World

Visiting the Southeast

I took a trip back to the Southeast for Nana’s funeral. I was able to see almost the entire family, many of whom I didn’t recognize as it had been a very long time since I’d seen them.

I spent Friday getting to my parent’s house in Atlanta. Saturday morning Mom, Dad, and I went to the botanical gardens but the parking was full. Instead we went to brunch. Mom and I then went to see Jeff and family at their neighborhood pool. Elise was scared of me, with a big feeling of ‘stranger danger.’ When she gets older she’ll understand who I am.

Sunday we made it to the gardens early. They had some interesting troll statues made from scrap and trash. Mom and I also stopped by the market, and the neighborhood meeting / party for a short time. Sunday evening I went to see Kim at her place. We had a good talk, and I saw the amazing scene she was preparing for me.

Monday Kim and Grace came over and I showed her the Story Machine, and she loved it. I’m going to make changes that she wanted and get Kim to load it onto a computer for her. It should then save her stories and I’ll be able to publish them.

Tuesday I rode over with Jeff and had a good talk with him. Then we met at the church for the service. It was lovely. Fred did a reading, as did I. Lucas did an amazing Aria. Then we saw the ashes put into the final resting place. We spent time at the church talking and having some snacks before heading back to Nana’s house. Fred and Karin brought over a ton of food and we all ate and drank and reminisced.

Wednesday we headed back to Atlanta.

Thursday I grabbed lunch with Jeff and was able to see Kim before Mom took me to the airport. The flight back was better, and I went into work for a bit to do the performance reviews before heading back to my flat to cuddle the kitties.

While I was in Atlanta and Birmingham, Steph was cave diving in southern France. She sent me pics of the area.

July 1, 2023 1

London, Week 30

It was another crazy work week, but I still had some fun. Steph reached out to the Westminster Speleological Society, and we met some of them for drinks, in the top room of a pub. We chatted about the trips they have planned and signed up for one. I am looking forward to it.

Wednesday we had the third and fourth rounds of the beat saber competition. It turned out pretty much exactly how I expected with making it past round 3, and getting destroyed in round 4. I had 4 of 5 songs with complete combos in round 3, but only got 1 of the 5 in round 4. Freebird was a hard one, and I didn’t do nearly as well as when I’d been practicing.

Steph and I played a bit more Frosthaven, and did pretty well. We had one scenario where my summons were great against bears and wolves. Then we went up against robots, which my summons were terrible at, and when we do more robot levels I’ll need to redo my deck to handle them better. Steph on the other hand was great and dealing with the robots.

I took a video of my walk to work, and then turned that into this gif:

Friday morning I went to Heathrow and Steph took the train to Paris.

June 24, 2023 1

London, Week 29

This was a busy week at work, from many different angles.

There were multiple groups coming to London from California for work trips that I had to meet with. Then there was the Beat Saber competition, where rounds 1 and 2 were on Wednesday. I did really well in round 1 and barely got through round 2, so that puts me in the top 12. I’m pretty sure I’ll make it to the top 8, but I think I’ll lose at that point.

We had a great time at the dive meeting this week, and met a group that was interested in playing board games with us. I look forward to when we can meet up with them and play. We did get a few more rounds of Frosthaven in, and finally beat the scenario with the stupid ally. We then went on to the boss fight, and did really well on that one.

Friday we had a great walk around Little Venice. We had dinner on the Cheese Barge, which is a floating restaurant on the canal. It was tasty food, and we got a toastie, a rarebit, and some croquettes.

Saturday morning I headed to the canal and broke out the standup paddle board for the first time here. I went to the astroturf stairs and inflated the paddle board. Then I headed to the St. Pancras lock and portaged around it. I made it up to the Camden locks, but didn’t want to walk around those with a paddle board. Camden market is packed in the best of times and slow to get through. No way I was making it through with a massive board. I turned back and headed to Battlebridge Basin, near Ice Wharf. The canal had some nasty parts, but mostly it was really nice. I’ll have to try going further with the board and paddling around Regents Park and maybe around Angel.

Nancy and Punit organized a picnic somewhat at the behest of Irene. We met at the astroturf stairs and got some food at the canopy market. It was Thai day at the canopy market and the food was pretty tasty. I of course got a Thai ice tea and grabbed Steoh her own so she wouldn’t take any if mine /s. We headed to a shady table in coal drop hards and grabbed some more food at the Japanese market there. This area has so much going on, it is fantastic.

That evening we jumped on Grounded and played some with Michelle and Michael. We geared up and improved the base. We started fighting harder enemies, but didn’t make any story progress.

the next day we went climbing with Punit and Roel. My grip got too tired to continue surprisingly early. Steph and I then met a friend of Irene’s, Nish, who was great to talk to. We had some tasty Ethiopian food and chatted about life and work.

June 21, 2023 1

London, Week 28

Monday, Steph and I did a power pump class, but really didn’t like it because of the instructor. The woman kept doing one of my biggest pet peeves, counting loudly and not in time with the music. I ignored her counting and moved in time with the music. Steph ended up leaving early. The class itself was also overpacked. We had gotten the last sign up spots, but more people came to the class anyway.

We had ordered Frosthaven, a new massive board game. It arrived Monday and Steph put on some podcasts while she unpacked it. Archer liked the box it came in and had a little session inside it. He was so cute. We ended up playing a few times, although we lost pretty badly on the third scenario. We had an ally appear in one room, and we were supposed to protect the ally. Unfortunately that ally decided to run forward quickly and be shot by a bunch of Archers before we even had the chance to step into the room.

Overall the weather has been getting much warmer. The kitties have taken to a melted pose where they are all stretched out, compared to how they had been tightly curled up and sometimes even under a blanket. They are still up for being cuddly, which is nice. We had expected them to not want to cuddle once it got warm enough.

We took advantage of the weather and went to another one of the bars that we’ve been eyeing for a while, Rotunda. It has a Mexican theme, but specifically it is theming itself around Tulum. With the sun going down it was a bit chilly, but I was still fine in just a single layer. I really enjoy sitting and talking with Steph along the canal.

That weekend Steph went diving for the first time with the dive group we meet with on Wednesdays in Holborn. She did the scallop dive and barbecue with them. They only had the one spot left, so I stayed in London and did a game jam. While working on the game jam I was able to visit a number of the private park around London that had been opened up for the weekend. I went to Mecklenburgh Square gardens, Bedford Square Garden, and Montague Street Gardens. They were all slightly nicer than the public gardens nearby; being cleaner and less worn. They didn’t have the amenities that a garden/park like Russel Square has, but that is to be expected.

Sunday Punit and I walked to the Welcome Collection and tried to co-work from there, but they don’t have outlets. Then we tried the British Library, but all the seating was full. Then we ended up back at The Hub and it was a pretty good place to work. The wandering had eaten up most of our time, and Punit then had to meet Nancy for something with their new place out in Walthamstow.

The game jam went really well. I was participating in Mini Jam 134: Islands with the restriction of “On a Grid.” I chose to do a hex grid and an island building game. It turned out really well, and I placed 8th out of 118. A coworker also participated and made a nice tower defense that placed 19th. A pretty good showing and a great jam. I made sure that most of the elements I worked on for this jam would be reusable, like the progressive draft and hex grid.

Steph took a lot of pictures of her dive trip.

June 17, 2023 1

London, Week 27

The kitties were happy to see us when we got back from Paris. It was so nice to have such a short travel period, and given experience we could easily show up half an hour to an hour later and still be fine at the train station. We had a full week. Tuesday Steph and I went climbing at Yonder. Wednesday Steph went to BSAC while I worked on an updated project base for my game jams.

Thursday we met up with with Lynne for dinner at Kaki, and they were able to do the crispy chili dish with tofu. It was great, and makes me want to go there even more often.

Friday we went to the comedy club with some Meta employees. Steph and I shaded the truth when asked about what we did, with some of the other Meta people making up whole new personas. Only one got called out on it. We had a great time and stopped by the Thornhill Arms finally.

For the weekend we had a full Saturday of climbing in the morning with Punit and Roel. Then we had a lovely lunch in Coal Drop Yards with Punit. We had a short break before heading to a couples massage, that was a pretty intense Thai massage. After the massage we had some games with people in California planned. We played Azul on BGA with Brian and Brittany, then played some Grounded with Michael and Michelle.

Sunday we did a great escape room at ClueQuest with Nancy and Punit, then got lunch at Duck and Dimsum.

Bookclub was an amazing discussion, from a great book for discussing and a great set of people to talk to. We were reading The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin. Nicole had her first time joining a discussion, and I hope she wasn’t put off by it only being myself, Michelle, and her.

June 4, 2023 0

Paris, May 2023

Steph and I took the Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris. The check in was a little hectic, but we made it through just in time for the boarding to start. We weren’t able to sit next to each other based on booking separately and the train having last minute seating shuffles, but we were close. Steph was stuck with a family of two young kids and a sick mom. I was in a seat next to a quiet older woman. We grabbed some food in the ‘dining’ car, which didn’t have seating or cooked food, just a snack bar. However, the snack bar was very well stocked and not crazy prices. I really enjoyed the travel, and it was way more convenient than flying.

We got in and headed to drop our bags off at the hotel before walking to the Tomb of Napoleon and the military history museum. We went through the sections on the French resistance during WWII, the section on the Royal arms and armor, the suits of armor, and the Napoleonic sections. We walked through a few more parks before heading back to the hotel. We grabbed dinner and a glass of wine at a local bar before calling it a night.

Saturday we started with l’Orangerie, which was not my favorite kinds of art. We followed that with Musee d’Orsay, which I really like. I’d been there once before, and it was as great as I remembered it being. I like the building and even though they had some of the same artists as l’Orangerie, I think the works displayed in Musee d’Orsay were ones I liked more. For example the Monets shown in Musee d’Orsay were the studies of light, like Le Pie, and the waterlily paintings were the ones with the other interesting features, like the famous bridge. I just think the artworks and format were better at Musee d’Orsay. We went through pretty much the entire museum, then grabbed a drink by the river. We headed to the Champs-Élysées and walked through the parks and saw some crazy fashion. I think the military boot style is a silly one. We headed up to Sacré-Cœur area for dinner and looked out over the city for a bit before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday we headed out of Paris to Versailles. It was easier to get there and back than I remember it being previously. I skipped the palace as it was looking packed and I’d been through it before. I decided to spend some extra time in the gardens and relax a bit. When Steph joined me we walked out to the Grand Canal and had lunch under some trees nearby it. Then we walked over to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. The gardens are massive in land area, and in vegetation. The hedge walls went up to 20ft in the air in some sections. Everything was also meticulously maintained. We walked for many hours through the gardens, including the quaint village. Steph made the perfect comment that it felt like a Disney resort park with how it was laid out perfectly to be visually stunning while not really being of any substance.

Monday Steph and I had a lovely breakfast at the cute cafe with all the teddy bears. Then we took a short walk along the river. We then headed into the Louve. We first went to the Denon wing, then made our way to the Sully wing, finishing in the Richelieu wing. We didn’t see everything, but we saw quite a bit. We headed straight to the train station afterwards and were there with plenty of time to spare.

May 29, 2023 1

London, Week 26

This week was extra short, as we got back from Zurich late on Monday and headed to Paris early Friday. I still got plenty done at work, even if it wasn’t what I was planning on doing.

Tuesday I had a nice soak using the bath bomb Steph got for me from Lush. They are Mario mystery bock shapes with a soap inside. I enjoyed the soak and listening to a good book.

We went to the Shard for afternoon tea to celebrate Steph’s position with the Zurich company, as well as my birthday a little. We were probably about one third of the way up the Shard, but the views were still amazing. The high tea was themed around peter pan, and they brought it out on a pirate ship.

Wednesday I had dinner with Nancy and Punit, while Steph went to the BSAC club and tried out her gear. She said it was packed and she got to talk to some great people. Nancy and Punit made some great fish curry, and samosas. I brought over some berries and smoothies. Punit seemed to like the smoothy, but Nancy politely only had a sip, and I think she was put off by the chunkiness.

I had a great playtest with Brian for their new game. I like the direction they are taking, and I’m impressed by the multiplayer.

May 28, 2023 0

Munich and Zurich

Two friends of ours, Michael and Yutong, contacted us a few weeks ago saying they had last minute business trips to Europe. One was gong to be in Munich on the weekend, and the other was going to be in Zurich at the start of the week. We had a late Friday flight planned for getting to Munich, but I was an idiot and forgot to take my passport with me. I had to go back to the house and missed the flight. I grabbed one the next morning and met them in Munich for lunch. It is nice that it is so easy to get around, and missing the flight wasn’t a huge deal. We had a great walk around the English Garden and saw the standing wave in the canal. It was the kind of thing that I think should happen in more places. We got to see a ton of little chicks of all sorts of birds, some of them we didn’t even know what they were. We drank at the Hofbrauhaus, and saw the Nymphenburg Palace. The gardens at the palace were amazing, and we especially liked the grotto and carriage collection.

Steph and I said bye to Michael, and hopped on the train to Zurich. We didn’t have nearly as much time in Zurich, but had the Lindt chocolate factory tour booked. We got in a little late, and had a great lunch with Yutong. It was so great to see her. I love how infectiously happy she can be. The chocolate factory tour was great, especially with all the included chocolate. They had three chocolate fountains, eight machines chopping up chocolate bars, eight different types of chocolate truffles, and two places to get chocolate squares. It was a truly decadent experience, and we all left on an incredible sugar high. I was shaking slightly from all the sugar. We chilled at the park for a bit before heading to an amazing Syrian dinner that Yutong suggested.

We said our goodbyes and trained back to the airport, and got back to the kitties around midnight. It was such a great weekend, especially because we got to see Michael and Yutong.

May 23, 2023 2

London, Week 25

Steph and I had a great climbing session with Punit. We did one of the gyms that I’d been to once before, and Steph hadn’t been to yet. They had some competition routes posted, and I was able to do up to 7, and then 9. 8 had a tricky part that I didn’t have the grip strength to get past. 10 and above I couldn’t even start on the wall. I had a great time of it.

We also went back to the diving club and are now thinking of doing a dive trip to Turkey in the fall. It would be great to go with the Turkish guy who is organizing the trip, as he knows the area really well. The dive club is full of really friendly people.

The restaurant Kaki is quickly becoming my favorite, as it has a dish that is very similar to our favorite dish in the bay, magic chili tofu. It is the same mix of spicy, sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, and crispy chilis. I’m really happy we found this place. The crazy part is that it is one of the closest restaurants to our flat, and has a great view of the canal. We hadn’t tried it until recently as we have a few places that we pointed at and said, “That would be great once the weather is nice enough to sit outside.” We’ll have to try some of the other nearby places like that.

May 23, 2023 1