How is it Friday already? This week FLEW by! We did have a big storm here on Thursday so I was home from work, which always makes the week feel wonky, but still.
ANYWAY here are five things that made me happy this week:
My super-secret project has finally been revealed! I’m a published author! Well, a freelance contributor. Needless to say, I’ve been blogging for my own amusement for twentymumblemumble years so it is wild to finally get paid for writing about something I am passionate about. So, yes I am very proud of these 800 words about public libraries and Dungeons and Dragons! It is really cool to see my name on one of my favorite website run by some of my favorite people on the internet.
It is always nice to get a snow day and stay home from work, when the weather is so icky that really all you can do, as a responsible adult, is stay in your pajamas and drink hot chocolate. But BONUS when that same snow day you get to (virtually) hang out with you online friends and listen to the brand new album by one of your favorite people as part of an online listening party.
Luke Westaway is a presenter/editor/performer for OutsideXtra, a YouTube channel all about video games, but a couple of years ago, he taught himself to play piano and guitar and drums and made an album called Short Songs with Long Titles. It was a fun little experiment and I adore that 11 minutes and change of tunes. A year alter, he released Basically Afloat, which has slightly more production value (because he bought some new toys) but still is a charming collection of tunes about life, mental heath and just exiting in 2019. He’s released a few tracks here and there over the last year, but now he’s officially releasing a third collection of songs AND hosting a listening party today at 3pm EST on YouTube. I will be hanging out in the chats with all of my friends on the SpicySadSquad.
I treated myself to the Dragons and Beasties 2020 Winter Mystery Box, a limited edition box of random stuff. She had mentioned on her Instagram posts that it would include a special figurine, so I assumed that would be the coolest thing in the box and while I adore my Winter Kit, my Chester pin, the dragon washi tape and the decal for my car, I am in LOVE with these gorgeous metal dice.
I have been warned not to roll them on an unprotected surface as their heft can leave marks in a wooden table. Luckily, our dining room table has a padded top so it should be safe. I can’t wait to use them for our next D&D session (which should be this weekend!)
Speaking of hanging out with online friends, last weekend I played a LOT of games. Two of the Discord servers I frequent were hosting game days and I managed to participate in both.
Both channels played a LOT of Jackbox games. These party games are just ridiculous and it felt good to laugh SO HARD and just be silly. We played a few rounds of Quiplash and then Champ’d Up. In Quiplash, you get a question and try to create the silliest response and then everyone votes. In Champ’d Up, you draw a character based on a prompt and then you pass that character to someone else, but they don’t see the prompt, only the drawing you made and they have to guess what on earth you were trying to be the champion of. We laughed. A LOT.
I also got to play a social deduction game called Human Punishment which was a really cool twist on your typical Werewolf or Secret Hitler game of guessing who are the villains and who is on your side. We played using a mod on Tabletop Simulator. It has a cyberpunk twist, with each person either playing as a machine, a human, or an outlaw (a human/machine hybrid).
To win the game, the machines must kill all humans, the humans must destroy the machines AND the outlaws and the Outlaws must kill everyone. But at the start of the game, you don’t know who ANYONE is and it is all based on the cards next to you on the table. Thing is, those cards can get moved around, so your alliances can shift at a moment’s notice.
I hope you had a good week and there were at least five things that made you smile! Only one week left in February 2020 – how is this year already flying by?
orangerful 