My weekend

Have you ever noticed, when looking at games in a store, that some of them have a sticker "mensa select?" Well, some mensa pals of mine invited me to join in the process of choosing this year's 5 games. I am not a Mensa member, so I didn't get to vote; I just played a zillion games over the course of 2 days.

49 entries. Each participant is assigned 30 games to rate. Each voting member ranks the top 7 of their 30 games. It was an interesting weekend. It was in San Diego, but it could have been anywhere, because we never ventured outside the hotel. Too many games to play in too short a time.

Not all the games are "gamers games" - I played a lot of party games and word games. Some baaad games. I was fortunate in not being assigned the worst of the religious games. Some games were essentially rip offs of other games. Some games were designed to appeal to children, some for adults.

After diligently working on my 30 assigned games, getting about 20 of them done, it occurred to me that I wasn't voting. So why the hell was I trying so hard to stick to my list? After that, I just played games that interested me, or that other people needed to try or whatever.

My favorite game was a cooperative game very similar to Pandemic, called Forbidden Island.

House - no go

Crawlspace under the house: Subterranean termites; airborne termites. Affecting the rim joist (what the house sits on at the edge, between the house and the foundation), lots of regular joists. Huge amount of fungus. And best of all: a huge drainage problem.

Adulthood: It's Just Not What It Was Cracked Up to Be

As a child, I remember thinking it would be great to be a grown-up, because I would get to make my own choices. Now that I'm an adult(!), decision making is often more difficult than I used to imagine. Nevertheless, I have "high quality" problems - my selection of options is more like "do I want melon or mango" rather than "do I buy food or pay rent"

The current dithering is, of course, about purchasing a home. I like the house - I would never bid on a house I didn't like. The location is okay. I cannot afford all of these: 0. safety 1. easy walk to public transportation (Caltrain) 2. easy walk to walkable downtown with stores of interest (e.g. groceries) and restaurants 3. biking commute to work 4. that je ne sais quoi along with 5. a free standing house of acceptable size.

Facebook photo album

Acceptable size: as always, it's relative. I've never wanted a mansion - I like to keep the cleaning more manageable, for one thing. My house in Ithaca is significantly bigger than the one I'm buying here. My apartment here is about the same size as the house. The house has a better bathroom and kitchen. The apartment has a better living room - dining room layout and bigger bedrooms, too. For my single lifestyle, two big bedrooms work a lot better than three small ones.

House: no shared walls! I'll be able to practice freely, at all hours. (Literally, any hour, if I'm willing to keep the windows closed -- hurray for double pane windows!) I envision fixing up the front yard into more of a flower garden with some seating. I have a nice patio with this apartment, but I never use it - I think it's because it's not really connected enough with the house. It's down the staircase and out of the sightline, and Shindy cat will meow plaintively (and LOUDLY) if I hang out there (she can't come out).

I'll be 10-15 minutes closer to the city, by car. 1-2 stops closer by Caltrain. A block away from a great locally owned fruit market. Too close to some big box stores.

I'm looking over the inspection reports now - no red flags on the play so far ...