The Weekend is Alright

This weekend I've had a little bit of a struggle really getting into/excited about any particular project. This always leaves me in a bit of a funk and is something I've really been struggling with lately and Saturday it was a particularly rough. It's a beautiful Sunday today though, cooler than it has been, and I'm feeling a bit better about things so I think it's a good time to remind myself that, despite my lingering doubts, this weekend has been pretty great.

Friday was a little rough work-wise, but M and I spent the evening playing some games. We finished a game of Terra Mystica we had in progress and I'm really sad I didn't take a picture because not only did I win, I crushed M. It doesn't happen often, I have to admit. But that just makes it extra cause for celebration when I do.

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Terra Mystica is an awesome game by the way, one of my favorites. Click on the source link for the picture above to learn more but it's a fairly intense/complex game- but not overwhelmingly so. There's a number of different races with unique abilities that you can play as and your basic goal is to most successfully colonize the game board.

Later in the evening, after dinner, we opened a beer (mine was the previously mentioned Long Trail Blackberry Wheat, highly recommended), and played backgammon on the porch. It was still beautifully warm out there, perfect for a porch party as M called it.

We briefly used that lantern because it also serves as a bluetooth speaker but of course the bugs couldn't get enough so we switched on the string lights instead. Porch party!!!

Saturday, as I mentioned above, was my real "off" day. I did my best to try and settle on something/occupy my mind. I did get some gaming in, playing a lot more Fez as shown below, and later in the evening, M and I played Diablo III until midnight. I think going forward, games will be a good tool to use when I find I'm having trouble getting myself out of a little bit of a depressive episode. They're a lot more engaging than, say, just giving up and sitting in front of the TV and I feel better after a game binge than I do after a TV binge. I still feel like I'm using my brain.

Taking a walk though is always one of the most helpful things and since the weather was so awesome  I knew I definitely had to get out. I ended up taking a little over an hours long walk (or, an entire episode of the My Favorite Murder podcast) and dude, just look at the pictures I took. So beautiful!

After I got back from my walk, I grabbed the mail and discovered I had a mysterious airmailed package. The sender's last name was Fforde which I thought was strange because the only person I know of with that last name is one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde....

WAIT A MINUTE

Yup, that is a signed copy of Jasper Fforde's novel Early Riser, sent by Mr. Fforde himself. After some sleuthing (i.e., frantically texting my sister who's name was included in the personal inscription I left out of the picture above),  I discovered that Jasper Fforde created this Instagram post:

Which my sister saw and emailed him requesting one of the copies be sent to me. I am amazingly lucky to have gotten a book as there were only 21 up for grabs and I am doubly lucky to have such a thoughtful sister to try and get one for me. Its like the universe knew I was going to have a shitty brain day today and arranged for the coolest mystery mail ever to arrive.

Needless to say, I ended Saturday feeling a whole lot better than I started it.

Sunday, I woke up later than I meant to (that's what I get for playing games so late) and right away, got kind of grumpy about it.  I had meant to get up and make strawberry pancakes because I had strawberries that were getting close to going bad that I wanted to use up, but M had already eaten breakfast by the time I was up. Determined to enjoy the day, I cut up the strawberries and sprinkled on some sugar to macerate them (sugar is also a preservative!) and set about making a pound cake to later smother in said strawberries.

Not bad! Hope its good, I've actually never made a pound cake before. I used this recipe, using this method of turning my AP flour into cake flour as that is not something I keep on hand.

We also went to the grocery store which, nowadays, counts as weekend excitement. I think later in the day we'll play some more games, either tabletop or video, I'm not sure. I may read too, now that I've got a very exciting book up next after I finish my current one. A good end to a, yes Ashley, great weekend.


*Post title comes from The Who song "The kids are alright" which was stuck in my head as I wrote this.