GAMING SESSION

A couple of smaller games that we enjoyed playing at the last session:

Gheos - it got some press but then it wasn't heard from much. I enjoy this game where you play gods in setting and changing the land, and thus the fate of the civilizations below. As a player you are not tied to one civilization, but all of them if you choose. You score points from those that have the most power, and that you can manipulate into scoring possibilities that are half random, and half initiated by you. Your strategy can change on a dime as the fates of civilizations rise and fall with land changes, wars and famines. Unique mechanics make it very interactive.

Traders of Carthage - a small board game with great mechanics that make every move effect gameplay and strategy. Players bid for four different goods that are being shipped from Alexandria to Carthage. Every player scores who has the goods that make it first there. Other ships of products can be raided by pirates or sent back on their journey. The cards serve multiple purposes in the game: goods type, amount of goods, currency for purchasing, storage from pirates and coin values for scoring. Must plan for turns ahead to find success.

The Still Small Scratching

We had an "incident" yesterday morning. Caleb, Jonathan & Sarah were playing with our two robo-hamsters (Butterfly and Ladybug) that we got for Christmas '07, when the kids got distracted and one of the hammies went missing upstairs in the boys room. Everyone started freaking out (parents included), and kids tears were flowing, as we franticly started the search. We tore apart the beds, yet carefully as to not squish our little hammy. We systematically moved everything to find her, but to no avail. As I sat on the floor I heard a noise, and told everyone to be quiet as we listened. I heard a faint scratching, and I slowly slid open the closet and out trotted Butterfly, who had somehow squeezed through the sliding doors into the closet. Caleb, relieved as he was the last one to be watching them, tearfully told us how he had gone into the other room and said a prayer while we were searching. He told us that it was a lesson to him, and that we should always listen to the "still, small scratching" of the spirit.

GAMING SESSION

Small report on our last gaming session, we went old school (as far as euro-games go) with Seafarers of Catan. We like playing the basic Catan island with unknown tiles for the other smaller islands. The randomness and replayability of Catan is always a treat as you need to create a new strategy for every game. Settlers of Catan really started the publicity for the new wave of Euro-games that are aplenty today.

Top Ten Card Games

Here are my top ten card games I enjoy playing:

1. Dominion - new card game that is fun to play and is never the same game twice. Out of 25 sets of cards you only use 10 each game, so the combinations are always changing.

2. The Great Dalmuti - fun game of moving up in society for up to 8 players. A riot when you play with different chairs and hats according to ones role.

3. SET - a brain puzzle game that should not be played too late at night or your head hurts.

4. Danish 21 - I learned this game in Denmark using any set of cards. Fun for all as there are only winners and one loser. It is a variant of the game Agurk, which is "cucumber" in danish.

5. Coloretto - a simple card game that has a card collection mechanic that became the basis for the 2008 spiel de jahres winner Zooloretto.

6. Wackee Six - A fast paced card laying game that edges out PIT as one of the most chaos enduced and frantic fun games.

7. Lost Cities - the only strict 2 player game on my list, but challenging and fun with many decisions to make.

8. Illuminati - I used to play this a long time ago, and has many variations, but it is a free for all conspiracy game of alliances.

9. Citadels - fun game for 7 players where you choose a role each turn. Because you don't know each other's identity, you don't know who you effect with your moves.

10. G.I. Joe - the only collectible card game on my list (I loath most of them especially since Magic:TG went corporate and was watered down), it actually went out of print quick preserving its original state before greedy expansions ruined it. Good mechanics and fun to play with the kids.

Honorable mention: Guillotine, Saboteur, Milles Bourne, PIT

Anniversary

February 2nd, 2009, the groundhog poked his head up, stared into the sun, and said, "it looks like there are going to be even better times ahead." 19 years and counting.

Age . . . and Time

I feel my body creaking. When I hit 40 I could swear I heard a bell ring: the warranty had expired. My feet started it at 39 with plantar fasciitis, both arches aching and making it difficult to walk on campus at UCI. Then at 40 my toes ached as the nails were too wide and had to be cauterized on the edges. At 41 I was diagnosed with diabetes which rocked my world and completely changed how I ate. My right shoulder went out and I had a hard time throwing a baseball. Now at 42 I am having a rotating pain from the groin, to left hip, to lower back, and now to right hip. It is troublesome to move. I know its not the worst of things, but I paid good money for this body.

DK On-Line

DK of course stands for Denmark, not for Donkey Kong or the Dead Kennedys (good 'ole punk band in their time). Facebook has enabled an explosion of contact between old LDS Danish missionaries from 1986-88, when I served. I have still been wary of Facebook, I know it is not as creepy as MySpace but I am not sold on so much open access to lives. But the ability to gain so much contact with people, the memories of which are fading fast, is enthralling. Currently many missionaries I knew are interfacing on facebook and it is thrilling to be connecting with them again.

 

 

I never really went to any mission reunions. I don't really like reunions, I've never gone to any high school ones. I love the gospel and thought the missionaries I served with were great, but the mission was frustrating in Denmark. Low baptismal rates, never saw my President much, cold weather, it was tough. I learned so much from my mission but never really felt I had made much of a difference there. I always felt I could have worked harder, done something more to make a difference. The danish people were great too, but I doubted if anyone there would remember me. I never thought I would ever see the land or people again, but that changed in 2004.

It was exciting to hear that a temple was being built in Denmark, but more unusual was that the temple would be built out of an existing building, the Priorvej chapel I had actually served in. Of course I wasn't planning on going, no way I could afford it as we were renting in California with 5 kids. That is where charity came in and bestowed the most amazing gift on me. At my institute the students knew about the temple and set about without my knowledge in raising money to send myself and my wife over there. I was blown away when they gave this gift to me. It was the greatest trip to be able to share my mission, the land, and the people with my wife. The danish people I came to know from my mission embraced me like I never thought possible.

My mission president, DV Jacobs, was the new temple president, and I was able to speak with him for a sense of closure on my mission. But the real healing for me took place during the dedication of the temple, as President Hinckley gave the dedicatory prayer it struck me when he said:

"We thank Thee for this land, where the restored gospel was first preached more than a century and a half ago. We thank Thee for Thy faithful servants who have come here as teachers of Thy divine truth. We express our gratitude for the many thousands who have responded to their message over the years."

The spirit bore witness to me that I was numbered among the faithful servants, and it had not been for naught, that I had made a difference. Before I left Denmark that same witness was borne to me multiple times as I heard similar testimony from many of the Danish saints. I am grateful that facebook connects me again to those Danes and missionaries I shared so much with.