Rhoneisms

We seemed to both receive a fair number of games as well as purchase a fair number for each other as gifts this Christmas. Therefore, through no real planning for this on any of our parts, it would seem that playing more games has become an unspoken family resolution for the coming year. Here’s a smattering of what we’ve played, or plan to soon, so far…

• Exploding Kittens — We’ve had lots of fun playing this as a family. The object is to strategically stay in the game. Once you get an exploding kitten, and have no way to diffuse it, you’re out.

• Sushi Go — We played this yesterday at a New Years Day party with some friends. They got it for Christmas and brought it with them to the party. it was a bit confusing at first but, once you understand the rules and play a round or two you realize it’s got a fascinating bit of strategy involved, is fast paced, and just a little bit crazy-making. That said, I liked it a lot and will likely be buying our own set in the future.

• Forbidden Island — We’ve not played this yet but I got it for Bethany for Christmas (it was on her list) and it came with very rave reviews from someone who’s board game knowledge I trust. I’m told that part of what makes this one interesting is that players actually work collaboratively during game play towards a mutual objective, as opposed to competitively. I’m looking forward to breaking this one open as a family soon.

• Cards Against Humanity — We actually never owned this and I myself have not played it (though my wife has). I got her the Cards Against Humanity Saves America package earlier in the month so I figured having the original was a must. Looking forward to my chance to finally play it.

• Ravensburger Labyrinth— This is one Beatrix and I enjoyed playing at a game night my favorite local bookstore hosts. A good one for Beatrix’s age range. I plan on purchasing it for ourselves at some point in the near future.

• Trash — This is a game played with a standard deck of cards that my daughter Beatrix taught me how to play and we’ve played it a few times since. She really loves it. It’s what she’s playing with her friend who’s visiting right now as a type this. It’s been a nice Daddy/Daughter pastime with her.

As someone who has not played board or card games regularly for years, it’s been a welcome and fun way to spend time as a family over the holiday break.

I’ve been doing some thinking about how I wish to approach and improve my reading plan for the year. I would like to see if I can increase the number of books I read in a year (which averages around 15) and broaden that which I read. I’m still ruminating and formulating but here are some ideas I have to make this happen so far…

• Read more paperback books, specifically mass-market sized ones. The books you read are the books you can easily bring with you. And, especially in the winter months here, every coat I own has large enough pockets to easily slip one in.

• Replace boredom with books. In the check out line, in the waiting room, while my daughter is in her classes. Assuming I’m good about having a book within easy reach per above, I’ll fill these sorts of times with reading one.

• Bias towards fiction. If you look over my reading list of the past several years, you’ll notice I tend to bias towards non-fiction. The reason is that I’m a curious learner and reading non-fiction fuels that. That said, every time I do read a fiction book for escape and entertainment, I always feel like i should do so more often but then fall back into my habits. The truth is, I read fiction a lot faster and enjoy the escape when I allow it. Therefore, I’m going to intentionally bias towards it and see what happens.

• Read more classics (including ones I’ve read and would like to read again). Not the least of the reason being that many of these are easily available in a smaller, mass-market size where recent paperback are less so (in general, these are trade-sized).

So, that’s what I’ve got for now. I’ll show up with more ideas when/if they come to me. If I could say nothing else of value at the end of this year, I’d like to say it was a good year for reading. I already feel like this will be that.

Having had a late night last night, this morning had us getting a later start than hoped. The plan was to have brunch at a local restaurant to start off the new year. My wife Bethany and I were up and going well before Beatrix awoke.

Once she did wake up, she was expecting her normal morning routine but, this would have made us late for brunch. Therefore, we had to shorten her routine and hurry her along in getting dressed. Beatrix began to get a bit grumpy because of this, which in turn made a hangry Bethany begin to lose it. Thus, in order to stop the impending explosion of feelings, I made the following declaration:

“There will be no anger, grumpiness, frustration, or other bad feelings today. This is not how any of us wish to start the new year. This is not how any of us wish for those we love to start the new year. We have a nice day ahead and a nice day is exactly how we wish to start the new year. Therefore, we will figure out how to get beyond whatever stands in the way of that.”

We had a lovey brunch. We got a few things done at home then ventured off to tour our beautiful, recently restored, State Capitol Building (free guided tours daily). Next up we have a couple of more traditional New Years Day gatherings to attend filled with friends and neighbors. We have some bold plans and bright visions for the year ahead.

So far, my declaration is holding.

Should it be a success, I may begin tomorrow by announcing, “There will be no anger, grumpiness, frustration, or other bad feelings today. This is not how any of us wish to start the second day of new year…”