Show Notes - Week of December 9, 2019

Greetings from 53.5° north latitude. Life is returning to a normal state that allows for time for reflection, personal hobbies, and the odd beer or two. Reading has returned in force as a result, which just makes everything better. 

Time for the meat of this week's entry!

Gaming:
Some disappointing news on the gaming front this last week. Rolled and Told is, was, a monthly issue of comics and RPG gaming, with tips and tricks and one-shot adventures to drop in to a D&D 5e campaign. Alas, along the lines of most publishing firms it seems, Rolled and Told has closed up shop after 12 issues, with a hopeful "back in 2020" note on the back cover of their last issue. I'm going to miss it, but there are probably a good half-dozen or so ideas that I can use for my campaigns. This isn't news as it was announced in August, but I just read the last issue. 

Another entry in the Gaming Disappointment category, but this time caused by an error on my part, ​I thought I was going to be able to pick up my Ice Cream Dice today, but I apparently picked the ship-to-me option! Ice Cream Dice was a successful Kickstarter by fellow Edmontonian, Marc Schubert. I was totally looking forward to rolling the Neapolitan set when our work campaign kicks off again this Wednesday. I mean, look at those things! They are wonderful. But alas, I will have to wait until closer to New Year to get them in my hands.

Last thing about gaming for this week: I am looking to curate a group of people, hopefully local, hopefully committed to playing, with a focus on roleplaying instead of roll-playing. Characters over Stats. I'll work on my outline in a long form post on this site, so let me know if you have any comments while I'm working on it. 

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Life is better with books. -- me

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Reading Pile:
As I look back at 2019, my single biggest accomplishment is my focus on reading. I still have 16 days to finish four books to push my total to 50 for the year, which is definitely an accomplishment, and I should be able to do that with the progress I have made on Mort, Collapse, The Sword of Shannara, and ... something else, just not sure what yet. ​ 

Book #46 on this year's reading list was Slacker, by Gordon Korman. As with the other recently-written Korman novels I have read to my daughters in the past few years (Masterminds, Ungifted), this is written in a series of alternating first-person narratives, which allows the reader the chance to see everything from multiple perspectives. The style is interesting, and allows for some fun guessing games - Who is this chapter going to be about? Slacker was a decent offering, but I think it was lacking especially in comparison to Ungifted where the protaganist was someone to actually care about. But it was still enjoyable, and gave us several nights of reading. Gordon Korman will always have a place in my reading pile, even after my daughters have grown up and moved on. 

In other reading news, I have discovered some reading groups on Reddit that should be really fun to participate in. ​r/ayearofwarandpeace and r/AReadingOfMonteCristo are subreddits devoted to reading and discussing Tolstoy's War and Peace and Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo respectively. I am super excited to read both books, and really looking forward to the discussions as well. War and Peace clocks in at 361 short chapters, so it will be a daily read-discuss cycle. Monte Cristo will have roughly three days between discussions, so there will be more time to read in between. With that sort of additional focus, I am going to set my 2020 reading goal at 52 books. 

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New Beers:
Two new beers this last week. The first was the Rinktinis lager from Volfmas Engleman. Really good stuff. I posted earlier this year about another lager from this Lithuanian brewery, and I was impressed with it as well. I'll keep searching out brews from them. This one had a good level of carbonation and had a lot of taste but was still easy to drink. (3.75 / 5).

The second was my first try from Ommegang, and it was a bit different and not too my liking. The Bigger and Better is a bière de garde, or Farmhouse Ale, so lots of hops and yeast. It was too mediciney for my taste though. My friend Dave swears by Ommegang though, so I'm sure this won't be my last from them. (3.0 / 5)

​These two earned me the Middle of the Road (Level 59) and Wheel of Styles (Level 25) badges from Untappd. 

New Words:
Lots of new words this week. I read the first half of Collapse by Jared Diamond, and your vocabulary is significantly greater than mine if you can read something by Diamond without learning a lot of words. Same thing with Mort by Terry Pratchett, but the words from Pratchett are more likely to be turns-of-phrase and very specific British terms. I needed a break from Collapse so I started Mort. I should finish both by the end of next week. And to be honest, a number of these words this week are leftovers from The Bone Clocks that I missed posting last week. 

consanguinity
[ˌkänsaNGˈɡwinədē]
NOUN

1. the fact of being descended from the same ancestor.

muggins
[ˈməɡinz]
NOUN - British, informal

1. a foolish and gullible person (often used humorously to refer to oneself).

dibber
[ˈdɪb.ɚ}
NOUN
a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so that seeds, seedlings or small bulbs can be planted

pillion
[ˈpilyən]
NOUN

1. a seat for a passenger behind a motorcyclist.

mercer
[ˈmərsər]
NOUN - British, historical

1. a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvets, and other fine materials.

lectionary
[ˈlekSHəˌnerē]
NOUN

1. a list or book of portions of the Bible appointed to be read at a church service.

Taoiseach
[ˈtēSHəKH]
NOUN

1. the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland.

jackdaw
[ˈjakˌdô]
NOUN

1. a small gray-headed crow that typically nests in tall buildings and chimneys, noted for its inquisitiveness.

euphonious
[yo͞oˈfōnēəs]
ADJECTIVE

1. (of sound, especially speech) pleasing to the ear.

​redoubtable
[rəˈdoudəb(ə)l]
ADJECTIVE - humorous

1. (of a person) formidable, especially as an opponent.

pleurisy
[ˈplo͝orəsē]
NOUN - medicine

1. inflammation of the pleurae, which impairs their lubricating function and causes pain when breathing. It is caused by pneumonia and other diseases of the chest or abdomen.

somnambulism
[sämˈnambyəˌlizəm]
NOUN

1. sleepwalking.