What Do You Mean, it's March Already?

This year has been a bit of a whirlwind. Nothing new for me, I hear you cry, but January and February were somewhat crackers even by our standards. We were home for all of two weekends in the entire two months, which meant finding time to do anything other than laundry - like writing blog posts - was never going to happen.

Our first foray of the year, after seeing 2020 in with gin cocktails and numerous episodes of The Witcher, was to Bellevue and OrcaCon. As always, it was a wonderful, welcoming experience, full of games and lemon curd fry bread. It's always lovely to see old friends again, and to make new ones over shared gaming experiences. And, as has become something of a tradition, I was interviewed by the Geeks of Cascadia podcast team, who are always lovely to talk to.

After the convention, we went down to Tacoma for a change, and stayed at a thoroughly crazy hotel: McMenamin's Elks Temple. Multiple bars and restaurants on multiple floors (including a hidden one), with live music every night, and a suitably off-the-wall design aesthetic that made it a very entertaining stay. We walked down to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, as one does if one has been raised watching historical documentaries. It was very impressive on what was a freezing cold but beautifully clear day, and thankfully not attempting to shake itself apart.

We were also fed and watered very well, as Tacoma is an excellent place for eateries and bars: Red Hots,  Ice Cream Social, Devil's Reef Tiki bar, Puget Sound Pizza, Hob Nob, and a lot of other cafes I can't now remember the names of. And there was the Tacoma Glass Museum, a very chill way to spend a Monday afternoon recovering from a convention.

And then there was a trip down to Olympia for a tour of the State Capitol, given by none other than Senator Steve Hobbs, one of the Geeks of Cascadia podcasters and also board member for OrcaCon. I got to wield the senate gavel, which was a lot of fun. We know some wonderful people, which means we get to do some cool and different things, and that trip was certainly one of them!

February didn't exactly slow down: proof of concept playtesting for the Rivers of London RPG, Maya on the Thames to learn Mayan hieroglyphics for the weekend (which confirmed I really only have room for one dead language in my life), and a blackwork workshop for the Ponteland Embroiderers Guild one very snowy afternoon.

And in amongst all of that, working on numerous projects for Chaosium and keeping up with my Egyptian hieroglyphics, including back-translating Peter Rabbit!

So, I know that's twice now I've covered two months in one post, and I hope to do better for the rest of this year. I certainly don't have as much planned at weekends as last year (or the beginning of this). Mind you, I didn't have much planned for last year, and look how that ended up!