What I had fun with this week

An old timey photo of a man and boy playing chess.

Still working through Fire Emblem, but I’m almost done! I think. It’s a looong game. Also watching a lot more Psych which thrills me to no end. Otherwise…

  1. Gideon the Ninth, a science fantasy book about necromancer lesbians exploring a haunted palace in space. You gotta love when the concept alone carries all of an artwork’s marketing. It’s hard to make a character effortlessly cool, and it’s harder to make a character effortfully cool, which Gideon is. The writing is both purple and funny. Great read so far.
  2. Civilization 6. I don’t like grand strategy games, but I love a slow, quiet game that lets you gab with your friends for a couple of hours.
  3. Deep Rock Galactic. Sort of the opposite! I mean you’re also talking with friends, but the game is really good at focusing your attention on a common goal. The poet Donald Hall described  love as shared attention on a “third thing.” Cooperation is bonding!
  4. Thinking about chess. I’ve tried playing many times, and every time I thought I was going to become very good. I didn’t become very good. Never stuck with it. Fun to think about being good, though!
  5. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. I’m gonna write aboout this tomorrow, because it surprised me as much as it’s been surprising everybody.
  6. Cooking: we got the offical D&D cookbook, which has goofy names for regular food, and it’s been fun! Meatballs with a béchamel and some parsely, hamburg steaks with a dill yogurt spread. Also I’m entering my sandwich era.