Kiss My Knits!

When we last left our intrepid adventurers, they were all alive again! Except me. Also, Val’s player is back.

Val: Val slicks his hair back and mutters about his lost “toys”
Torkal: Torkal reminds Val that they were marvelously effective.
GM Vaschon: Next time the villain will lobotomize Val and make him bald
Veracity: fate WORSE than death!

Treasure is sorted, including a “hat of the magi” which nobody can identify. The DM didn’t say what it looked like, but I imagine something like the hat to the right. Aleanghi decides to try it on. Despite much ragging from the party, she does not begin to hallucinate, at least no more than usual. Instead, she appears smarter. Is this a hat of intelligence, perhaps? Lord knows our party can use all the intelligence it can get.

After the requisite looting, the party decides it’s time to get going. Apparently Palin is starting to smell. How to drag my carcass back through the water, though?
Do Dwarves float?

Bicycling, skating, gardening.

We got a bike for Em last year and she’s still not proficient at it. This is our fault, for not seizing the momentum gained from the excitement of first purchasing the bike. We debated a lot about the best method to use, when perhaps we should have picked something and gone with it, even if it weren’t the best way.

It’s not all us, though, as Em wants to know how to do everything, but she doesn’t want to do the work to actually learn how to do everything. Well, this is summer, and she wants to know how to do these things, and by God she’s going to learn how to ride a bike this week if it kills me. Which it may.

Part of our problem is that we can’t practice in our driveway. It rolls directly onto Tyvola Road, a major thoroughfare. We have to take the bike somewhere else to practice. This is also a problem, because children are required to ride in the back seat of a car, and my car is not big enough to hold her in the back seat and the bike. However, across Tyvola Road is the Marion Diehl center, which recently installed a running track. This isn’t the nice soft red stuff, it’s asphalt, so we can ride on it without worrying about tearing it up.

I stuffed some wound-wash and bandaids into my pockets, just in case, and we walked over this morning and rode. Mama’s little underachiever promptly started negotiating. “Let’s just ride three times.” I wanted to go for a set time but I don’t own a watch, so we negotiated to eight good stretches of riding. Only once did she deliberately try to ride for a few feet and then stop. I told her nicely that that wasn’t going to fly, and she put her all into it again.

We made it 3/4 of the way around the quarter-mile track. Then she felt like she was done. I opted not to push it. We’re going back tomorrow and going all the way around the track.

It was 80 degrees and it was hard work holding that seat and awkwardly running behind her while crouching. I was panting and sweating, which I think made her feel like she was working harder than she actually was, because she said she was tired when she looked just fine to me. We went back home for water and orange slices. We’ll give it another go tomorrow, and we’ll try to go all the way around the track. Em is on board with this. We’ll work up from there.

I get that it’s hot and she doesn’t want to go out. I don’t want to either. But I know she’ll feel a sense of accomplishment once she’s able to do this, and I want to give that to her. Even if I have to push her down that road a little.

Em: Do you know what my lifetime dream is?
Me: No, what?
Em: To have my appendix out!

Last week it was to be the first woman president. I guess she can do both.

When we last left our crew, Palin and Torkal were about to be set upon by possessed fleshy statue versions of the rest of the party. Fortunately, just before they attacked, Torkal and Palin managed to get the bad guy to launch into the traditional villain monologue and forestall our inevitable doom.

You got me monologuing!

GM Vaschon: When last we left our intrepid adventurers, the party of Palin and Torkal discovered the bodies of Ale, Bentein, Veracity, Val and Klyx laying dormant on stone slabs.
Veracity: Not even snoring.
Bentein: I can RP dormant 🙂
GM Vaschon: A small alcove was searched out and opening the rotted door revealed a long chamber lined with figures on both walls and a figure at the far end seated at what appeared to be a desk filled with alchemical supplies.
Veracity: Quick, shoot him in the back before he notices you.
GM Vaschon: On the west side of the wall rest 4 fleshy statues and 3 fleshy statues on the east side. Glancing quickly, you notice 1 elf, 1 half-elf, 2 humans, 1 goblin, 1 kobold and 1 dwarf.
Torkal: Torkal will look to Palin, then look around, then helpfully call out, “Hello?”
Palin: Oh, lordy, did you just call out “hello” to the villain?
Torkal: Yes. Yes, I did.
Palin: I see we haven’t lost our edge during our absence.

More misadventures behind the cut.

After a few weeks break, we returned in full force. And man, was it a nailbiter. I’ll try to get the writeup posted soon – these things always take a little longer in the summertime.

As says, “I never want to hear the words ‘fleshy statue’ again.” Amen, sister.

Well, you can see it now.

Best part: Em just went and put on her bikini, then a bathrobe over it. She ran into the den, swept out of her bathrobe, and said that she was a superhero and I had to be the villain. Then she defeated me. Behold the power of green hair.

That night, Tvini learned a valuable lesson about making hair care decisions based on internet dares.

Hey, we had some left over from re-doing Em’s hair (which turned out much better). As the friend who dared me said, “waste not, want not.” The dye is Special Effects in Sonic Green. The picture was taken after a shampoo with lots of vigorous scrubbing.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Time has been very scarce lately, with Em out of school. She’s doing a morning camp this week, but it took all of that time to sort through a mound of Jayne e-mails. I love that she’s being so engaged this year, it’s exactly what we want. However, I did not expect it and it’s throwing me behind on other things.

Tomorrow morning I hope to go running. I passed the 100 mile mark on Nike Plus, which was a good feeling. Hopefully the sweat from the run won’t send green dye down my face.

Just wanted to be sure everybody knew about We Choose The Moon.

From Geek.com: “The goal of the website is to allow visitors to experience the Apollo 11 mission in real time. In fact, the website will go live at 9:32am on July 16th which is exactly 40 years to the minute after the historic launch.

The website is sponsored by the JFK Presidential Library and Museum because it was under President Kennedy’s direction that a mission to the moon be planned and executed. To allow visitors to experience the Apollo 11 mission as it happened the website utilizes archival audio, video, photos and “real time” transmissions. Besides the AOL powered website, visitors can also receive mission updates through three different Twitter accounts.”

The “launch” has already taken place, but stage four will be coming up in a couple of hours. It’s neat to tune in and hear the audio as it was spoken, real time but separated by 40 years.

I’m also uploading some of my old Life magazine finds. At right, Michael Collins proves that a man separated from society will always try to grow an ill-advised mustache. Even in space.

Godspeed, Apollo 11!