Gritty Fatigue

I've been working through the First Law trilogy for a while now and I'm finally on the last book, The Last Argument of Kings. I find myself tiring of gritty fantasy. I took a break and shifted to comics to read some of Tom King's Batman and Gotham Central. Not really a break from the gritty, but still good stuff. Gotham Central has me wanting to rewatch The Wire again. I also picked up Lumberjanes and I (and the twins both) loved it (see below Owen making a goofy forced smile, caught reading through it the second time). It was a taste of the break I was looking for. I've been meaning to reread The Black Company and The Scar but I think I need to find something a bit less grim as a palette cleanser. Maybe A Closed and Common Orbit. I was reminded recently how much I liked The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and one of the things I enjoyed about it was its overall optimism.

Holy cow! This thing is massive.

Reader

I finished The Martian. Not great. It's a real easy read, but it felt like the main character was Science. The logs of the astronaut read like bad LiveJournals, and the third-person scenes back on Earth may have been worse. As riddled with clichés as the Martian surface is with craters. After that I read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Reviews of the book seem split, but veering toward the positive. I'll add mine to that side too. I enjoyed its Lovecraftian bent, with layer upon layer of spreading infection. Also, pretty short. Now I'm on to Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt. So far, immensely engaging and fun to read.

I watched Chef. I thought it was ok. It's gotten good reviews, and I'd heard a lot of hype, but it didn't hit that high of a mark for me. Too rosy, maybe.

There's a new sickness assailing the house. Owen had a fever and coudg/sinus issues most of the weekend and stayed home two days from daycare this week. Then all three kids went in for vaccinations. Last night Abigail got feverish and it's carried over into today. Might be a side effect of the shots, but she's also got a cough. Add to that both Carrie and myself are feeling (sleep-deprivation notwithstanding) a bit lousy and I think maybe whatever Owen had is finally spreading.

MarsJournal

Just finished reading Designers & Dragons: The '90s. I dug it. The '90s was when I really came into gaming, so this volume had a lot more direct interest than the last two. I wasn't sure what to read next, but knew I wanted to read something else before starting the '00s. Ben recommended The Martian. I read through 30 pages or so and the writing is not to my liking. To this point it's reading like a bad blog. And having read some of my old LiveJournals lately that's sticking in my craw more than I would have expected. Maybe I'll give it a little bit more. It's not a particularly long book anyway.

Make Merry

The hell has been happening?

Wrapped up Burrito Quest 4: Veggie Trek. Managed to coordinate Isaac in on the last episode. We kind of decided to do a BQ5: Bizarro Trek, but my enthusiasm for it is not super high. Maybe I'll see if I can pawn all the work off on Ben, then just coast along.

Xmas went swimmingly, without any actual swimming. Spent the weekend before and up till Xmas day in Carl-Bad. Highlights include:

Trying to find something to do on Sunday before Xmas in Carl-Bad, as nothing beside fast food or Chili's is apparently open. And for your information, the Chili's in Carl-Bad is pretty crappy. Got to hang out with Nathan some though, which is always good.

Played some Minecraft with Ross while in C-Bad. I finally grok why that game is so popular.

Woke the kids up Xmas morning telling them Santa Claus came and left them presents, to which Owen replied, "Dada, I'm scared." He got over it pretty quick though, and spent quite a while pushing his new scoot bike around the house. They should hopefully put on the inch or two needed to fit them by the summer. Paige dug hers too, but was more interested in her new backpack.

Fat loots from Santa to me included were highlighted by Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version by Philip Pullman and a new Kitchen Aid can opener. We use a can opener twice a day feeding Piper and have generally picked inexpensive models that either didn't work consistenly or broke within a pretty short time period. Maybe I was just doing it wrong. Anyway, the new opener rocks. Also got some socks with monkeys and mustaches on them.

The day after we got back from Carl-bad, Jon (plus Cameron & Derek) and Dad both showed up. Jon stayed till this past Sunday, and Dad is leaving this coming Saturday. Been a busy house full of visitors through the holidays, but not in a bad way.

Made it out with Jon and Dad to the Mimbres Brewery taproom. The beer was better than it has been (helped that they had their Chocolate Pinon Coffee Stout on tap) and we had a good time hanging out, chatting, and having a few beers.

Played some CoD: Black Ops 2 with Derek. The zombie mode on that game is pretty damn sweet, especially the Grief games.

More Xmas with Jon et al. Scored more loot, including a sweet Loveland Ale Works shirt from Jon, a digital photo frame from Mom, cash for a weekend getaway from Dad, and comics and video games from Sage.

Did our annual kickball game. I think I kicked once, then rounded up the kids and took them home. It was cold and they were getting grumpy. But there was a good turnout depsite the cold and I think everybody had fun. May try to do it bi-annually, or maybe even quarterly in the future.

Saw the Hobbit, was underwhelmed. There was a lot of bloat and some weird production choices that would have, for me, been more successful if they had been more understated. Dislikes: too much light in caves in the bottom of the mountain, dwarfs looking weird or not like dwarfs, for kids=goofiness & fart jokes, Radagast. Likes: Bilbo, Riddles with Gollum. I like the old Rankin & Bass cartoon a lot more than I do this version.

Dad and Aunt Nette are both headed back east tomorrow.

And look at this, it snowed.

Make Mine

I've taken to reading comics again lately. And by comics I mean superhero books, namely of the Marvel variety. I think something Sage mentioned about AvX piqued my interest, so I got a hold of that storyline and blazed through it. It lit a fire for more Marvel stuff. In the past week I've read that and all of Young Avengers. Now I'm turning toward the Marvel Now! releases. All this with a book half-finished and other novels clamoring for attention in my brains.

Current Read: A Betrayal in Winter
Reads Clamoring: One of Mieville's post-The City & The City books (Kraken, Embassytown, or Railsea), Ghost Brigades, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Wildwood

Should Do This More Often

Since last time:

I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. Given a general lack of training on my part it went pretty well. If anything it mostly affected my recovery time. The scenery was, of course, amazing.

Owen and Paige turned 2. Had a great party with lots of friends and family.

I turned 38!

Gaming ground to a standstill with various travel and whatnots. Played in a session of Apocalypse World this past Saturday, was good. Was good...

Decided to put the renovation project on hold, for the patio. We're in saving mode, trying to build the money to get the job done, rather than depleting savings to do it.

The tree is pretty sweet. It finally dropped its leaves, and the yard is, for the first time, littered with leaves. Hopefully it established well enough to make it though the winter. Should be fine given how large a tree we bought.

Had a low key Thanksgiving with Mom and Nette. Made way more food than needed, as is the wont of that holiday.

Finished the firs of the Long Price Quartet and started the second, Betrayal in Winter. Good series, but I think I may pause after this one and read Ghost Brigades.

Burrito Quest is on track for a possible successful trek. It would be our first since BQ1 if it happens.

Almost Lost It

Lots of in-laws in town over the weekend. As always this meant lots of eating out. Couple that with my lack of exercise lately and I mad feeling less than healthy. Time change has afforded us more time in the evenings, to you know, get some exercise in and whatnot. But there still doesn't feel like enough of it to go around. Add to that my work schedule has started to include me working late every Tuesday and Thursday and the excuses start to pile up. Oh, also it's yard work and allergy season, so...

Jon's Cruces-bound this weekend to 1/2 Death March with mom. Beers on the roof seem in order.

Finished Ready Player One. I liked it, but I don't think I loved it. The nostalgia angle is always comforting but the conflict felt less than threatening once the story found its feet. The ending, while entertaining, didn't feel at all surprising. Now I'm on to Best Served Cold.

And thank Glob for Blogger's auto-save. This post almost went gallivanting about in the ether. It most likely would have been replaced by bitching about exclusively using and iPad for internets.

It Cometh WIth Snot

The past week has been sickness all through the family.  Near as I can tell Owen was our own patient zero, followed by either Carrie or I, with Paige bringing up the rear.  It hit me last Sunday/Monday and lasted till about today.  Still not completely over it but much better since yesterday.

This past weekend we toted the kids out to Carlsbad for Julie and Rosss birthdays.  Was good to get out there and see 'em but also tough what with everyone not feeling well.  Made for a tiring weekend.  So much so that I came home from work after a couple of hours early on Monday.

Managed a session of Flamentations Friday before last.  A mini-dungeon crawl followed by a survival scenario and finally returning to a town beset by chaos.  Next session this Friday.

Pulled a 12-hour at work today.  Surprisingly, not that bad.  But then a 3 hour nap yesterday and staying busy all day today probably helped.

Oh, and I got a new nook.  Carrie was wanting to do more reading so she took my old one and I upgraded to a nook Simple Touch.  Very small, and very nice.  Still working through Dance with Dragons, but taking large chunks out at a time.  Carrie's been reading Bossypants and enjoying it, so I may hit that up next.  Or maybe Ready Player One, not too sure.

Sinu-balls

Some kind of sinusitis has descended upon me. Out of work Friday and still feeling worn out and sore.

Friday Flamentations were booshed by sickness. And it looks like no gaming for the next two weeks for other reasons. May have to see if Ben and Amy are interested in something during the week, to ablate the seemingly inevitable once-a-month gaming schedule.

Kids have been getting more and more "getting into things.". This morning they moved the 'fencing' we have in front of the trash can and retrieved a mostly empty cup of ranch dressing. It was, undoubtedly delicious. I, being sick and tired (of sickness, not kids) got a bit frustrated with the situation, when Owen's ranch smeared mouth clearly called for humor. So Carrie bundled the kids up and took them for a walk. Next time I'll just go back to bed like she suggested.

Been thinking about getting a new nook. I may have mentioned this before, but with the old one working just fine, not sure it's warranted. Maybe if I sold the old one...

Lots and Lots

Thanksgiving: Lots of family time, also, unfortunately, lots of not feeling so great. Pulled some kind of sinus business Tuesday, and it lasted through Wednesday. Carrie and I both had some stomach bug Wednesday as well. Jon got in that night and I was well enough to have a few beers with him. We forwent Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day and had it Friday instead. Jon was here, Agnes and the kids too, her parents, mom, the Sharons. I found a turkey recipe that knocks out the bird in 2.5 hours. Good food, good company, but with recent sickness and staying up too late (including a perfectly fine time playing MW3 till much too late with Cameron and Derek) I felt worn out all weekend. Saac, Jenni, Sage, and Sarah were in town. Managed to make time to get together a couple of times, including a nice outing to High Desert for both Carrie and I while mom watched the kids. Oh, and we got together a kickball game on Saturday. It was windy and cold, but we ran around and kicked balls with gusto. The past nine months or so of no exercise are readily apparent in the pain in my lower extremities.

Nathan stopped by on his was to Tucson for a quick visit, Sunday. I was feeling poorly most of the day, then contracted a 102F fever in the afternoon. Ended up taking Monday off. Feeling much better, but with the recurrent sinus crap I decided to go ahead and take the antibiotics I picked up the end of last month. Could just be the dry weather but who knows.

No gaming this Friday, again. There supposed to be a RockBand party instead, but I think Conner's 3rd birthday is happening then too, so we'll probably take the babies over to that.

I crammed through Storm of Swords and am on to Feast for Crows. Enjoying it immensely, the story as much as being back in the habit of reading frequently again.

I owe Kenny a callback. My apologies.

Finally, I put up my first Mr. Beer batch weekend before last. Dad sent the kit to me for my birthday. I'll bottle it in the next few days and it should be ready to drink by the time Dad comes in to town next week.

Crotchety

Post, dammit!

Last Friday was a lack of gaming, but an abundance of Novembrew. Headed out with Alex and met up with Jason, Lynn, and Steve Nelli. Drank lots of delicious beer in 2 oz portions. Almost didn't finish out all 30 tastings in the allotted 3 hours, but High Desert hooked us up at the end. Of note was the Chocolate Coffee Piñon Stout from Mimbres Brewing out of Deming, and Woodchuck's Summer Cider. Not usually a fan of cider but that stuff was mellow and tasty, without the bite I get from most cider (which reminds me of the ham/cider story from my trip to Seattle...Sage and Sarah had some cider in the fridge at the same time as a ham and complained that the cider tasted too much of ham...maybe you had to be there). After the tasting, we hit up Zeffiro's for some pizza, and Starbucks for some coffee. Made for an satisfyingly inebriated early evening.

Saturday Carrie took the kids to Carlsbad. I jumped on the opportunity of an empty house (coupled with lousy weather) to spend a whole 24 hours eating fast food and playing through all of Gears of War 3, campaign and multiplayer with Cameron. Also spent hours reading more of Storm of Swords. A very quiet weekend. Unfortunately I missed out on both Saac and Renn Faire-ing.

Paige has been tottering all over the place, even going so far as forgoing crawling despite falling on her butt repeatedly in a very short timeframe. Owen is taking his time catching up, but he's getting there. Last night mom had us over for delicious chicken stew and lots of kids exploring mom's house.
Turning 37 on Saturday. Wow.

Well

More and more I'm taking less and less time to keep this thing updated. I've been thinking about moving over to Blogger, but until I start devoting some time consistently to hammering out some posts I figure I may as well stay put.

Was good to see Isaac. Ben ran some Apocalypse World in lieu of normal Friday gaming, and we were joined by Tony and Isaac's friend from Santa Fe, Joel. I played a Brainer named Marsh and quickly and boldly pushed the game off the rails. So much off the wall shit that at one point Isaac remarked, "Why the hell are we doing this?" Lots of craziness that ended with Tony and I, after I killed half the hardhold with a brain-grenade, taking over the place while the rest of the group hightailed it out of town to get away from us. Definitely the best game of AW I've played.

Traci came out that weekend too. We did a lot of hanging around here (what with babies), except for a night out when Mom babysat. We hit up De La Vega's and rounded out the night at Alex's new place drinking and listening to music with Joe Victor till late. We wrapped the weekend with taking the kids over to Alex's for a housewarming party. We kept them out past their bedtime, but they did great.

Dad's been out since last Thursday. He's taking off in the morning to head back to Alabama. Didn't do up much while he's been here, but hopefully it's been good times with the grandkids for him. He did knock some much needed yardwork/housework off my list. And we've been cooking a bunch too, which is always good.

Been trying to get after reading more, and have pushed through a good chunk of Clash of King's in the past week.

Oh, and I got a 'new' phone. Picked up a used Droid Incredible. It's taking some getting used to. Amazing how much different two Droid interfaces can be.

Kids are doing good. The tiny pigtails Paige got at daycare the other day resulted, after they were taken out and she slept, in some hilarious hair this morning. And Owen, even after waking up early with a blowout, let me put him back to sleep and hold him in the recliner for an hour or so. That's pretty great.

Heading to Carlsbad on Friday. Go go go.