Spent mine in Cape May, New Jersey eating fish and chips at a local restaurant which seeing as this is a beach town in the middle of winter I figured would be deserted. Nope, place was packed even at 6pm. The food was great and the beer selection. Large which explains why all the local residents flock here.
All the beer snobs were of course fighting to see who could drink the bitterest IPA or double IPA or triple or just eating hops out of a bowl like popcorn. I, true to my contrarian nature, went with an Italian pilsner.
Back to hotel and in bed watching TV by 8pm. Asleep at 8:05. That's what we call "living on the edge", son.
I played darkest dungeon in the library while my wife listened to an audiobook. Being old and not having expectations anymore about what is cool and not cool to do is pretty nice.
Snuck in a low key game night with two of my buds. Tried a new chocolate stout, played my buddy’s copy of Escape from the Dark Castle (silly fun) then played our first game of Aeons End. Surpisingly good game that was a throw in here in a local trade. Finished the session with a cutthroat game of Go Nuts for Doughnuts. Lots of laughs, great beer and good to catch up with folks. Great way to spend a Saturday night...
Went to campus with my wife. I installed a new standing desk and monitor pole while she worked on a presentation about Writing Centers in Doha, or maybe it was her thesis presentation in LA this month. She is looking for work, so hire her. I brought home the Alphawrite Freewrite so I can sell it because we found cheap tickets to Tokyo and have no money.
After we got back my son drove our daughters to two different parties. I don't even remember what I did for the next two hours, other than feeling guilty about not learning Fields of Fire yet. Oh yeah, I cleaned the kitchen. Then I picked up my daughters from between 9-10 pm. Older daughter's party was at this huge mansion. She kept looking for the address, thinking, "It can't be this mansion" They spent most of the evening looking at the mansion and the cockatoos. Also, an electric player piano that sounded pretty cool.
Rewired my house's electric system in the rafters until 7pm, spent the rest of the evening telling my hips that they don't hurt as much as they think they do. So yeah, painting and Lou sounds good to me!
Some friends and I organized a crokinole tournament with about 28 players. Drank good beer and Crown Royal because Canadian. I was partnered with the son of our twice reigning champion so I was hoping the magic was passed on but we placed third losing to the team that ultimately won. Finished with a game of Rhino Hero Super Battle where I think we played by about 50% of the correct rules. Awesome time!
Spent Saturday night reading very strange science fiction (The Tsaddik of the Seven Wonders by Isidore Haiblum) and listening to vinyl from the 70's & 80's (Van Morrison, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Echo & the Bunnymen, Steve Miller Band). Then Shellie and I watched an old TREK episode (Bread & Circuses). Getting ready now to spend Sunday afternoon painting minis! Pretty sweet "too cold to go outside" New England weekend.
My wife was wiped out with a cold so while she napped the food prep for the Super Bowl party at her sister's house fell to me. My wife made the dough but I got to finish a batch of homemade soft pretzels, and after that I spent over two hours prepping the sauce and turkey meatballs (it calls for chicken breasts but I thought meatballs would be more fun) for oven shawarma, making a dairy-free tzatziki sauce, boiling a chicken to make stock for white bean chicken chili, and cleaning the kitchen. I really enjoy a cooking challenge (i.e., making shepherd's pie on a weeknight for supper just to see if I can pull it off) but all that was a little overwhelming, even for me.
After all that I took the kids out for food and just hung out until my niece showed up and we chatted with her for a bit.
Took my girlfriend out to a wine bar, a Japanese restaurant, a craft brew bar, and finally a bourbon bar. Then we came home, had the best rye whiskey ever made (Peerless) and watched Predator. Well, Predator was on.
It's been a long time since I've had a better night.
I smoked a bacon wrapped pork lion and served it up with Hasselback potatoes and homemade slaw. Then I worked on fleshing out aspects of my buddy's new DnD 5e world.