05/24/21: Cubirds, the Expanse, and the Expanse
TLDR
Update: Just a normal week
E/C/B: Ribs & Ruebens (a local place)
Playing: Cubirds on BGA
Reading: Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey
Watching: The Expanse
End Notes: You can contact me at jadettman@gmail.com
THE UPDATE
This week was slow and the weather was hot. I tried to get out early-is in the mornings to take my daily walk before it got too warm (and honestly, it’s not bad yet) but otherwise I feel like the week was taken up by the usual housework and playing games on Boardgames Arena. I did a little writing but nothing super exciting. You know, normal week.
EATING / COOKING / BAKING
One of the local places we like to get takeout from the last year is Ribs & Ruebens. It’s all barbecued meat, greens, baked beans, and mac’n’cheese. Basically, delicious comfort food. They are a little unreliable lately because the pandemic has been rough on everybody and it’s been sad to see their staff shrink to the owner and one other person. But we’re doing what we can to keep them in business and, hopefully, they will make it through.
PLAYING
Roleplaying didn’t happen this week because, well, reasons (mostly stress and scheduling issues) so I’m going to talk about Cubirds, a cute set collection game that we’ve been playing on BGA.
First, it isn’t a rummy game. Instead, four rows of various bird cards are dealt out on the table and each player gets a hand of cards. On your turn, you play all of the birds of one type down on one of the rows and, if the cards you played match one of the cards in the row then you pick up all of the cards that were in between the two. Then, if you have a set of matching birds in your hand, you can add one or two of them to your collection. (The reason it’s one or two is that each bird type has different numbers to determine whether you have a small flock or a big flock. Between 2 and 9.)
And that is pretty much it. The player who collects 3 birds of 2 different types or 1 bird of 7 different types wins. It’s a short, cute game.
READING
I just started reading Persepolis Rising (book 7 of The Expanse) in preparation for the release of book 9 next month. Originally, I was going to start at the beginning and read the whole thing, since #9 is the end of the series but I feel like I’ve read them a few times and have a good grasp on things. It helps that there was a time jump, narratively, between six and seven, too.
Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you about the series (without spoiling things) if you haven’t read them. The series is really good and I like a lot of the characters therein. It’s SF set mostly in within our solar system and I think it has interesting things to say about people and politics. It’s also full of adventure and fun.
Of course, if you haven’t read any of the books, you may know of it from the television show which is also good (see below) but doesn’t capture all of the good stuff of the books. Which, it couldn’t. Not without being many episodes longer. Which is why, if you like SF, you should read the books. They are big, thick books, and that may be intimidating, but they are breezy reads. When I’m really feeling it, I get through one in three or four days.
WATCHING
Oh, hey, we’ve been re-watching the Expanse too! Season four finally made it to iTunes, so we’ve started at the beginning. The show is also fun and good!
I’ve got to say, it’s giving me a little cognitive dissonance, watching the early seasons of the show while reading the later books. The characters have changed! The setting has changed! So much has happened!
Good stuff. If you like SF, check it out (if you haven’t already. I mean, c’mon, what have you been watching instead for the last six years).
END NOTES
If you'd like to send me some feedback or discuss one of the topics I've talked about here (or even a different topic), email me at jadettman@gmail.com
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